Tales of the Zenith
by 0999Silv
Summary: Original Tales of Series Fanfic. Join outlaw Geo Grace as he partakes in an adventure with priestess Eliza Proctor and a group of colorful characters in the adventure through the world of Cellus. Please Review.
1. Background

This is an original Tales of Series story. I originally posted the story on the Tales of Series Forum, but I decided to stop posting there and post here. I assume I'm suppose to post this story in the Misc section. I hope someone will read this story. Well, here's the backstory.

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**Tales of the Zenith**

"_To see the difference between what's right and wrong."_

During the ancient times, there were two entities known as Enoch, the fair divine entity, and Des, the firm and powerful entity. Enoch created the humans and his servants today are known as the Benevolent, and Des created the monsters and his servants today known as the Wicked. One day, Des became corrupted with power and betrayed his brother, putting Enoch in a deep sleep. With Enoch away, Des and his Wicked servants were able to rule over the world.

The human were forced to serve as the slaves to the Wicked, forced into labor under the threat of death. The humans could do nothing to defend themselves, knowing no artes and lacking the knowledge to fight back unlike the Wicked. They could do nothing but persevere until their creator returns.

It wasn't until a time known as the Great Rise that Enoch emerged from his rest and fought Des for power over the fate of the world. Using his divine power, he sent his servants the Benevolent to give the humans the knowledge to fight back. After a hundred year war, the humans rose victorious. Des was defeated by his brother, but not before sealing Enoch within the core of the planet along with himself. Both entities were sealed within the core of the planet slumbering, waiting for the day that their servants would release them.

Today, the Wicked have gone into hiding. They were said to take the form of monsters or appear humans, but can be identified by the use of Dark Artes. These creatures that appear human but use Dark Artes are known as Sorcerers. Others include creatures who could take the form of man and beast called Skinwalkers. Others took the form of large monsters.

To counter these threats, a divine war had developed to not only track down criminals, but to hunt down and purge the world of the Wicked. Those who fought in this war fought for the will of Enoch to create a peaceful world and fight for the good of mankind, and seek a way to release their creator. The event is known as the Crusade of Enoch.

Whiles the Crusade takes place, others just desire to survive. One of these includes an outlaw named Geo Grace.


	2. The World

This is the world and the inhabitants that live in it. If you notice I gave the towns the names of various religious terms, such as the three countries being the names of Angel Classes. I'm proud of the world I created and its inhabitants. You'll see more later on.**

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**The World**

The World of **Cellus** has three continents; each one has a country within the world. In the south west is the religious country of **Seraph**. Connected to it is the eastern empire of **Cherubim**, and to the north is the wasteland country of **Ophan**.

**Seraph** is a country in the south west. It is mainly a grassland country with its capital the great kingdom of Elohim, a military city called Ba'al, a port called Hadad, and a small town called Syria. Seraph is a country that fiercely follows the old ways, and created the Crusade of Enoch to purge their country of the Wicked.

It is enemies to a country to the east of it called **Cherubim**. It is mainly a grassland country with some forests in the inlands. Its capital is the Empire of Adramelech. It has a port called Adon, a mountain town called Belial, a town of Sorcerers called Goetia, and a port town called Moloch. Unlike Seraph, Cherubim tries to accept the Sorcerers and even made a town for them to thrive. They believe that the Sorcerers can be saved and try to convert them to the path of Enoch.

The third country is a large country in the north called **Ophan**. It is part grassland, part desert, and part forest. Ophan has no kingdom, but has a council that settles affairs of foreign affairs. The country deals with trading, goods, and services. The country also deals with crime syndicates and has many hidden tribes of Skinwalkers. The capital is called Torah, and has three ports called Hexapla, Parsha, and Ketuvim. There is also a military town called Nehemiah that is said to be full of corrupt soldiers and crime lords.

**Inhabitants**

**Humans**: The dominant race. They were created by Enoch and given the knowledge to survive in the Great Rise. Though they primarily rely on weapons, a small number of humans can use Elemental Artes, Artes that use the elements around them consisting of fire, air, water, and earth. These people are known as **Mages**. The church can also use a secret arte called Light Artes which uses the holy power of the light element. The people able to use light artes are called **Clerics**. It is said Light Artes was the very power of Enoch. Humans are unable to use Dark Artes.

**Sorcerers**: People who are able to tap into not only the four main elements, but the Dark Artes. They can easily be identified because of their use of dark arts. It is this use of dark Artes that made them feared and hunted. They are unable to use Light Arets.

**Wicca**: An extinct Sorcerer more powerful then ordinary sorcerers that disappeared after the Great Rise. They are unable to use the four main elements. They make up for this by being able to use both Light and Dark Artes. They are so powerful; they need to release extra energy to keep their powers from deteriorating their bodies. They can also use seals and mystic items to keep their powers in check.

**Skinwalkers**: People who take a human and animal form. They are feared and hunted more so then Sorcerers, taking refuge in the wastelands of Ophan, trying to struggle to survive. They cannot use any Elemental Artes, but are capable of using Dark and Light Artes.

**Monsters**: Animals of the world created by Des. They have below human intelligence and are seen as threats to humans, those there are those who understand monsters are vital to the world.

**Golems**: Artificial monsters created through the use of spell artes. They depend on Azoth Stones that can absorb and store the life force of the world prana. These stones serve as their hearts and give them the ability to function.


	3. Characters

Here's the character section. Next time I upload the story. I also want to point out that I do not own the Tales of Series. Namco owns the rights so please don't sue me.

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**Main Characters**

Name: **Geo Grace**  
Age: 16  
Sex: Male  
Hair: Short and Black  
Eyes: Indigo  
Clothing: A black poncho with an indigo line in the center and along the ends. The inside of the poncho is also indigo. Has an indigo sleeveless shirt. Black baggy pants. Wears a black. Wears black hiking boots with metal enforcing the toe area and back of the heels. He wears a violet holster on his back where he keeps his battle axe. He also wears silver colored metal wrist bands and occasionally wears a big black straw hat that he keeps strapped to his left shoulder.  
Occupation: Outlaw  
Class: Melee Fighter  
Weapon: Single Handed Battle Axe  
Attack Theme: Color

Description: He's an outlaw from the Ophan country that left to avoid capture. He is extremely sadistic, selfish, and rude, lacking a sense of honor and tends to fight dirty. He can commit the vilest acts and do it with a smile. He does however follow his own principles which he follows fiercely. He looks down on the upper class and he does not desire to associate with big time criminals. The biggest rule he follows is "Don't interfere if it is not your affair."

Quote: "I've been called many things, bastard, shameless, ruffian, savage, but a good person… that's a new one."

Name: **Eliza Proctor**  
Age: 17  
Sex: Female  
Hair: Long and a cyan color  
Eyes: Blue  
Clothing: A turquoise jacket with very long sleeves that go past her hands. The jacket was lined with gold markings around the wrist of the sleeve, the buttons, and the color. On the back is a lollipop like shape with the stick going down. Also wears white shorts and a grey belt with a holster and gold buckle. Have light-blue shoes with gold heels and golden toe parts.  
Occupation: Priestess  
Class: Cleric  
Weapon: Wand  
Attack Theme: Divine

Description: She is a kind and very understanding priestess from the country of Seraph. Because of events that occurred, she travels with Geo and tries to convert him to become a Crusader. She seems to find the good in everyone, and will try to bring it out, but she can easily snap at someone if her patience is tested. She was orphaned as a baby and raised by the Church of Seraph, becoming a priestess. The only clue she has about her past is a mysterious tattoo that encircles her right arm. She keeps it covered and does not wish for others to see it. She is also sensitive to the subject of her impressive figure, and wears long clothing to avoid stares from men.

Quote: "I can tell just by looking at you, you can reach great heights if you take the right path."

Name: **Ivan Vix**  
Age: 49  
Sex: Male  
Hair: Balding Dark Brown, and a thick mustache.  
Eyes: Brown  
Clothing: Buttoned Green Sports Jacket. A yellow shirt, orange long pants, a black belt, and black dress shoes. Has a brace in the right leg of his pants. He carries a brown basket like box that carries Bune.  
Occupation: Performer  
Class: Mage  
Weapon: Walking Stick  
Attack Theme: Classic Elements

Description: He appears to be a shameless and lecherous old man, but in all reality he is very wise and compassionate. He is one f the few humans who can perform Elemental Artes, where he learned it he refuses to tell. In fact, he does not wish to reveal anything about his past, appearing to try to avoid the subject. He is seen as a street performer in Syria, making little kids laugh and yet at the same time, using his artes to blow up the skirts of young ladies. He meets Eliza and Geo in Syria and immediately takes a liking to Eliza due to her impressive figure and cute face. He acts very perverted which results in him getting a severe beating. His serious side however comes out in the midst of battle.

Quote: "For example, I can tell you the sizes of that young lady just by sight."

Name: **Jean "Genie" Camellia**  
Age: 23  
Sex: Female  
Hair: Long and Dark Blue-Violet in a ponytail style wrapped in a purple ribbon.  
Eyes: Red  
Clothing: Business attire. Dark blue buttoned up business jacket and business pants. She has on a black tie and white undershirt. She wears black boots that look similar to business shoes.  
Occupation: Enforcer  
Class: Brawler  
Weapon: Gloves  
Attack Theme: Animal

Description: She comes off as cold and blunt and her no nonsense nature and short temper causes her to beat up those who act like fools. She's as ruthless as she is serious and sometimes goes by the name Genie because of her loyalty to her boss. She is the niece of the Crime Lord of southern Ophan, growing up as a thug for the Crime Syndicate the Dusk. She lives with her younger sister and brother in the Ophan country. Neither of them knows about her job, believing she is a business woman. She went to Seraph to hunt down a client who has skipped paying her boss.

Quote: "My definition of mercy… a quick and painless death."

Name: **Chase Horal**  
Age: 24  
Sex: Male  
Hair: Silver colored long hair  
Eyes: Yellow  
Clothing: Wears a red unbuttoned vest with a white short sleeve shirt, with a red cross in the chest part. He also wears a pair of violet shorts and a pair of brown sandal like shoes. He also wears an array of jewelry such as golden wrist bands, a re choker, and a gold earring in his left ear. He also tends to wear makeup. Has a pair of Elbow blades strapped to his arms by four black straps.  
Occupation: Fashion Designer  
Class: Quick Striker  
Weapon: Elbow Blades  
Attack Theme: Space

Description: He is a handsome yet very feminine individual. He has a habit of speaking in a feminine dialect, and will only acknowledge people he considers beautiful. He can be stubborn and vain, but it is really a mask for his sadness. He is a pacifist by nature, and seems to harbor a secret he does not wish to share. He is heavily infatuated with pretty girls, always attempting to dress them up in beautiful clothing. He is disgusted with men and women who act more masculine then feminine. While an excellent fighter, he is also capable of light artes, though it is limited to healing.

Quote: "Ooh, I'm never to busy to dress up a beauty such as yourself."

Name: **Lucy Signerstein**  
Age: 11  
Sex: Female  
Hair: Long Blonde Hair made in braided pigtails  
Eyes: Green with glasses  
Clothing: Wears a coat that looks like both a lab and trench coat combined. The coat is white around the ends, but primarily pink. Her coat is aligned with multiple pockets in the inside that contains many small trinkets, bombs, traps, and her primary weapon, a complex crossbow. She has a magenta long sleeve shirt. Has on a black skirt, a pair of black and magenta striped knee socks, and a pair of black shoes.  
Occupation: Scientist  
Class: Marksman  
Weapon: Crossbow and Trick Arrows  
Attack Theme: Metal

Description: She's a very loud and rash individual. Her high IQ made her vain and rude. She is the daughter of Victor Signerstein, a man who has a reputation for being a mad scientist. She was raised in a castle owned by her father in Cherubim, and proven to be a child protégée. She spent her time in the castle isolated inventing new devices. She appears to be sensitive about her height and has a huge affectionate side for things that are furry. Being spoiled most of her life, she tends to act selfishly and take things without asking. She also has a habit of breaking the fourth wall, though people do not understand what she's talking about when she does it and just pass it off as a child's imagination.

Quote: "You're all stupid, go away."

**Bune**: A large pink silkworm like creature, around a foot long, that serves as Ivan's familiar. It is capable of creating fine silk that can serve as tough rope, net, or even clothing. She is generally liked by the girls, but is avoided by Chase. Her favorite spot appears to be on top of Geo's shoulder. She is the group's mascot, and very valuable when a strong rope is needed. She's about one foot long at the top with six pairs of white legs. Has big clear black eyes and a tiny squid like mouth. Has four small horns on her head and a pair of spikes on her tail.

Quote: "Buu-Buu."

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Hope you enjoy the characters. Next time will be the story itself. **Please Review** and tell me how I'm doing.


	4. Chapter 01: The Outlaw and the Priestess

Here's the first chapter of my story. It's not different then what I put on the forum. I did however make some changes and edit it a bit. Originally on the forum this was two separate chapters, but I merged them into one to save uploading time. Well, here you go the first chapter of my story. It introduces the main character and the main female. Also, at the end of the chapter, there will be three skits just like the Tales of Series games. Enjoy.

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**Chapter 1: The Outlaw and Priestess**

Elohim, a city of religion and light. It was said that this city was the battle ground between the two entities the evil Des and the kind Enoch. The ending result was the defeat of the evil entity, but the sealing of both within the planet's core. Hundreds of years later, the humans crated a city over this battle ground, giving thanks to the entity that protected them against evil. Here they live with smiles on their faces and faith in their hearts. They know to love their fellow man, and work together in harmony, so that their city may thrive, truly becoming the city of light, the city of hope, and the city of love.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Geo Grace grunted as he looked out at the city. The sixteen-year-old black haired young man had recently arrived to the large city and already he wanted to go back home.

The city was large with buildings made of white finely polished stones. The all white city made the city shine with a brilliant radiance. This must have been why the city was called the city of light. In the center of the large city on the top of a hill was the castle, a huge structure with a number of tall towers. It was white like the rest of the city, but also has golden tiles aligning the roofs of the castle's towers. It was the symbol of the capital of Seraph, meant to show all the brilliance of their country and the strength they get from Lord Enoch.

Geo gazed at the sight of the castle from the park of Elohim. The city was nothing like the wasteland city he came from. It both amazed and annoyed him. One city has so much wealth they could make a city like this, but they don't bother to share some of that wealth with lesser countries. "I guess that's what happens when there's a difference in location, economy, and moralities."

Geo wasn't much of a theorist, but knew that because the wasteland he lived in back in Ophan wasn't in a good enough condition to sustain much life, no one else would find a reason to give the people there money. No way to profit off of it. All the richer countries could do is use it as a neutral area for trade.

The only other good use for it is a good hideout for criminals. Crime Lords recently started their businesses there and their power is slowly spreading. Just a matter of time before all of Ophan is under rule of one large crime syndicate. Geo knew it was coming; a crime war was going to happen, and decide the fate of his home country. That's why he got while the getting was good, stowing away in a cargo ship to Seraph. Now here he was, in the Seraph capital Elohim, land of milk and honey, where a smile is on everyone's faces and the population thrives. Way to sappy for Geo's taste. He was already missing his home at this point.

Geo sighed annoyed. "Well, I'm here. Now what do I do?" Geo knew he needed money and fast. He looked out at the people going about their business in the afternoon day. He saw they all wore bright colored clothing, loose and casual for the cool afternoon day. He looked down at the dark Ophan clothing he brought with him from his desert homeland. He wore a black poncho over a blue shirt, black pants with a red sash around his waist, and black boots with blue seams. A single handed battle axe was strapped to his back; the handle was over his right shoulder, accessible by his right hand.

He knew he would stand out too much do any kind of pickpocketing, so that was out of the question. He could pass as a beggar, but he knew that won't get him much. This was a problem, if he didn't find money soon, he wouldn't eat... again.

It was then he heard a call from the right of him. 'Stop!" a man's voice called. Geo looked to his right. Running towards him was a young boy with brown hair, wearing dirty grey clothing running like he was seeing a ghost. Far off behind him was a portly man in fine clothes chasing him, demanding that the young man stop.

Geo immediately recognized a pickpocket running from a victim. He thought for a moment, and realized this could be beneficial towards him. He stepped in the boy's path and grabbed him. The boy was pretty easy to subdue, just has to wrap the boy in his arms and squeeze tight.

"Stay calm," Geo whispered. The boy looked up at Geo puzzled when he realized what Geo did. "Now listen…"

The portly man had caught up at this point breathing heavily. "You," the portly man growled. Geo got in between the two still holding the kid.

"What's going on?" Geo asked playing dumb.

"That ruffian stole my wallet." The portly man said outraged.

Geo knelt down to the young man. "Is that true?" he asked in a kind and surprised tone that could fool a trained actor.

The boy shook his head. "No,"

"Nonsense," the portly man said. "My wallet was missing, and this boy was running away."

"Let's just calm down sir," Geo assured in his false tone "You don't have any wallet do you?"

"No sir," the boy said turning his packets inside out. "See, I have nothing."

"Then why were you running?" Geo asked with a wink.

"I-I'm late to get home sir," the boy said stuttering. "I was supposed to be home ten minutes ago." Geo nodded improving of the kid's improvising."

Geo turned to the man. "I don't think he's lying sir. He doesn't appear to have any kind of wallet on him."

"But he didn't stop when I called him." The man defended not believing what is going on.

"Sir, I don't mean to offend you," in reality Geo had a few good overweight jokes he had in mind, but he decided it best to keep on his Good Samaritan façade. "But you are a pretty big man. You must have scared this poor kid. Wouldn't you have run away if you were in this child's position?"

The man did find Geo's argument logical. "But my wallet…" the man insisted.

"You probably just dropped it somewhere sir. If you retrace your steps I'm sure you'll find it."

"R-Right," the man said. "I apologize," the man said convinced he had made a mistake.

"It's okay," the boy said playing along with Geo's act.

"Very well, young man, I'll take you home."

"O-Okay," the boy said taking Geo's hand. The two proceeded to walk off. The puzzled man turned thinking about where his wallet went turned the opposite direction pondering deeply.

When Geo saw the man was far enough away, he let go of the kid's hand. "Now kid," Geo said reaching into his pants pocket pulling out the wallet he took off the kid earlier. He opened it and took out some gald. "I expect payment for bailing you out back there." He took out a hand full of gald. "Whoa, that guy was loaded. You picked a good target, however…" he gave the kid the wallet with whatever gald remained. "If you're going to pickpocket, there are a few things you got to remember… what's your name?"

"Ollie," the boy responded. "Ollie Baker.

"Well Ollie, if you're going to pickpocket, remember a few things. You have to successfully learn the sleigh of hand. If you pay attention to magicians and see how they do it, you can successfully pick any pocket with ease. Your victim won't feel a thing, and most of the time, you won't be detected by your victim. Remember to wear clothing that blend into your surrounding, have a plan before you act, due it in a large crowd, and if your victim does notice something's been stolen, walk, don't run, and don't look back. That will tell everyone you're a thief. If you walk just walk and blend with the crowd, it will make your getaway easier. Disappear into a crowd, and vanish into your get away route. Got that?" Ollie nodded understanding. "Good," Geo said. "You want more knowledge, find another crook around town." Geo turned to leave.

"Wait," Ollie called.

Geo looked over his shoulder. "What is it now?"

"You're not going to scold me about how wrong pickpocketing is or tell me to change or things like that?"

'Should I?"

"Th-That's what adults usually tell me. They tell me about stealing being a sin, and that Enoch looks down on thieves, and everything… it's just…" The kid looked down nervously. "It's wrong right?"

Geo looked at the kid annoyed and shook his head. "Fine, you want good advice. Give up on the whole thing." Ollie looked up at him. "Forget what I told you and live life like a good little trooper. If you're too easily guilt ridden to make a career of it, then just forget it kid. You ain't fit to be a criminal." He turned to walk away again.

"But why did you help me?" Ollie asked in an attempt to get one more question in.

Geo stopped for a minute and answered without looking at the kid. "I've started my career as a pickpocket. What people with money call a deviance, I call survival." He continued down the street.

He continued walking down the street looking somewhere to buy food. He had enough gald for a meal; all he needed to do was find a place to spend it. He noticed a small quant restaurant on the corner of the street. The sign read the Golden Cloud. Probably a church owned restaurant, the church owned everything in Seraph, Geo wondered why it even had a king. He went in deciding to get a bowl of something quick to make and filling. Just as he entered, his ears were immediately greeted by the sound of a woman preaching to a small crowd.

There in the back of the small restaurant was a small stage. Standing on that stage was a young woman with long cyan colored hair and blue eyes. She had on a long robe of white and gold, decorative with symbols and markings seen within the church. She was certainly a priestess by the site of the dress. A white and gold cap resided on her head, and a circular silver pendent hung from around her neck.

"She's pretty hot," Geo said to himself noticing the girl's curvy figure and cute almost baby like face. He guessed that long concealing robe was actually a really sexy body. He wasn't above thinking naughty thoughts about a priestess, but for now he was hungry and did not want anything other then to fill his stomach.

He sat down at a table and motioned for a waitress to take his order. After ordering a bowl of potatoes soup, he looked over at the priestess who was speaking.

"Enoch loves us all," she preached. "When he sealed himself within the planet's core after the battle with his treacherous brother Des, he left us with one mission. That mission was to bring prosperity to the world and rid it of the evil in the world. Currently, there are those who serve Des called the Sorcerers and Skinwalkers, who plan to plunge our world into darkness. We need more to join the Crusade of Enoch to help purify our world. Do your part to help our heroes. We are all entwined in a fate, so please, for the sake of all human kind, do what ever is necessary to assist in purifying the world."

Geo just rolled his eyes. "Should've picked another restaurant." He looked over and saw the waitress with his bowl of food. When the waitress put the bowl on his table, Geo looked at his lunch. This was without a doubt one of the best looking, best smelling, and was certainly one of the most nutritious meals he had in a long time. Usually his diet was composed of lizards, monster meat, and preserved foods such as beans, mostly beans. He was going to enjoy this meal. Just when he was about to eat however, he heard a ruckus coming outside.

From the front door of the restaurant erupted four rowdy men. All four of them were men in their late thirties and looked like they came from a pub. Geo knew the type, big guys drinking too much after a stressful day. Unfortunately these types tend to be violent. If Geo did nothing, they won't bother him. "Just sit here and eat your soup Geo." He said to himself.

The men rowdily song about as they sat in a table next to Geo. "Waitress! We demand you service us!" the other three laughed at his mispronunciation of words. Geo snickered a bit as he spooned up a bit of soup. He was about to eat when he heard the girl's voice again.

"Excuse me sirs." The priestess said walking over to the men. "Are you drunk?"

"That's a possibility." One responded, a big bald and overweight man. Geo thought of a toad when he saw the man.

"I'll have to ask you to leave sirs." The priestess asked with some anger in her voice. "This is restaurant is for families and your disturbing the other customers."

"Details," a skinnier man said waving her off.

"We ain't hurting anyone," the toad man said again. "We're just having a good time."

"You're setting a bad example for the children." She pointed out.

"Don't be a killjoy priestess." The skinny one insisted. "Come on join us!" he grabbed her wrist.

"L-Let me go this instant." The priestess demanded.

"Come now, join us, join us," the toad man repeated.

Geo rolled his eyes as he attempted to ignore the please of the priestess and the persistence of the drunkards. "Serves her right for getting involved." He remembered he still hasn't touched his soup. All the interruptions made him forget about it. Well now he was ready to eat.

"I said let go!" The priestess said, slapping the face of the skinny man who grabbed her wrist. Out of anger, the man violently shoved the priestess. She toppled over and tumbled on the table Geo's soup was on, knocking it and Geo's soup on the floor.

Geo just sat there, in disbelief. The first decent meal he had in months was not all over the floors. The broth was now a pool of thick liquid on the floor. The priestess lay n he floor, slowly sitting up with pain.

The four drunks were laughing their heads off at the sight while the other guests outraged by the lack of respect for the priestess watched in disbelief. Several had left the restraint out of either fear or to alert the authorities. Others stayed in their place either out of fear, or to be sure the men don't do anything to harm their families.

Geo got up from his chair, visibly angered that his meal was ruined. Usually, he does not get involved with these situations. But now, he was pulled into the situation, and he planned on ending it.

"Hey, you four." Geo growled. The men stopped laughing and looked at Geo who glared at them with his indigo eyes, burning with anger. The priestess looked up at Geo, wondering who he was. "Shut the hell up, and get out of my sight you disgusting little maggots."

"What," the toad like man demanded angrily.

"You heard me," Geo growled turning towards the men.

"What's your problem?" another one of the drunks asked with anger and confusion.

Geo sighed as he began to explain his situation. "Do you know what I have eaten for the last few months?" when there was no response, he answered it. "Beans. Morning, noon, and night, all I ate was beans. And here I am about to eat something that for once that did not come out of a can, and here it is." He pointed to the pool of soup. "It's now on the floor under a priestess' ass thanks to you four sacks of crap." The priestess though a little offended by his fowl language watched him silently wondering what he was going to do.

"Why you," the skinny man said angrily. All four drunkards got up from their seats and charged towards Geo. Unfazed, Geo reached for his battle axe.

"Wrong move," he muttered under his breath.

_Azure Edge…_

Geo made a horizontal slash and with powerful force, a blue ball of energy was shot out at the men.

"An arte," the priestess stated amazed.

The blue ball struck all four men, and they were blown away by its force. The ball blasted them all the way to the back of the restaurant and into the kitchen. They were blown back, blowing aside everything in the path of the orb.

All was silent within the restaurant. By this point, all the customers were leaving the area. The only ones left were Geo, the priestess, and the four unconscious drunkards.

Geo smirked as he slumped his axe over his shoulder. "Not so tough now are ya?" He looked down at the priestess who looked up at him with amazement. "What?" he asked.

The priestess got up brushing herself off. "I-I…" she did not get a chance to finish her sentence. Another sound was coming from the front door.

Within a matter of seconds, a group of twenty men rushed in the restaurant and surrounded them. They were the authorities, knights who have sworn to guard the city with their lives, fully dressed in armor, spears and swords drawn and pointed at Geo.

"You with the axe," one knight demanded. "Drop your weapon now!"

Geo just sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, and threw his axe to the ground. "Great job Geo. Just an hour in a new country and you're in trouble already. I really gotta learn to mind my own business."

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Geo just sighed as he nonchalantly lay on a dungeon bed; a wooded board attached to the wall and held up by a pair of chains in the wall. He peered over at the bars that kept him trapped inside the small cell.

The dungeon he was held in smelled awful and had barley any sunlight. The stone walls made everything stuffy, and straw was all over the floor. He did eat his meal however, which was a bowl of grey gruel. The sad part about it is this place is still better then living free in Ophan.

"Amazing," Geo commented. "A difference in economy can really dose wonders to a Dungeon." He could afford to be calm. Although he is in a dungeon, he could afford to be calm. This dungeon maybe slightly better then the Ophan dungeons, it was way more inferior in terms of keeping the criminals inside. He could see nine places in the dungeon from where he can escape. All he had to do was wait for the right time.

The wait did not last long however. He sat up as he heard the door to his cell open. Two knights in full body metal armor stood outside with javelins in their hands, prepared for anything Geo might do.

"You've been summoned by Judge Proctor." One of the knights instructed. "Come with us." Though curious about what kind of person would summon an outlaw like him, Geo did not stop to ask. He silently got up and proceeded to follow the guards deciding it better not to make a flashy remark or say anything that would get him into more trouble.

He was lead out of the dungeon by the two guards on each of his sides. As he left the dungeon with his stone walls, he entered a more decorative setting with white and mauve wall paper and paintings of noble men and women of all ages. It looked like it was like this all the way through the hallway.

As he continued to walk, Geo couldn't help but wonder why he would be summoned by a Judge so early. Trials would usually take a while depending on the seriousness of the crime. A crime like this would take a few days to process in the court, but he was only in that dungeon for barley an hour. Who exactly was this Judge Proctor and why was he so interested in Geo?

Soon after, Geo made his way to a large door which was what Geo guessed was an office. If this judge had an office within the castle then he must be a very important person. "I better be on my best behavior." Geo thought. "If this guys all that important then he could be my ticket out of here. First I'll see what he wants, then I'll convince him to let me go."

The two guards knocked on the door of the office. "Come in," a calm masculine voice called from the other side of the door. One guard opened the door as the other lead Geo in.

The room was even bigger then it looked if you just saw the door. The room was wide and cylinder shaped with bright colored wall paper and book shelves lining the sides of the room. In the back of the room was a huge window overlooking the entrance to the castle.

Despite the impressive room, Geo did not keep his eyes on the sight of the room for long. He began to realize there were other people in the room, a total of four. One of them he recognized as the priestess he saw in that restaurant. The other three were new people. One of them was a middle aged man in a dark robe with grey-white hair, and an aged face. Geo assumed he was Judge Proctor. The other was a middle aged woman standing next to the judge. She was dressed in robes of gold and white. Judging by her age and outfit, she seemed to be a high ranked priestess. The other was a young man with long light silver hair. He wore knight armor of light blue and bright cyan and gold. His eyes were a bright blue and he had a charming smile along with a handsome face. "A complete pretty boy." Geo thought.

"Good day young man." The old man greeted. "I am Judge Jethro Proctor, the head judge of the Supreme Court of Seraph."

"So this guy is important." Geo thought.

"I am Sister Marian," the middle aged woman introduced. "I am the head Nun at the Church of Seraph, in charge of seeing young priestesses through their training."

"And I am Sir Avalon Burgundy," the knight greeted. "Nice to meet you."

"Honestly I don't care about you two. I just want to know what the judge wants." That's what Geo wanted to say, but he kept quiet and just nodded.

"And you remember this young lady." She motioned towards the priestess.

"No kidding." Geo said in his mind. "I was arrested because of her."

The priestess bowed and looked at Geo with a smile. "My name is Eliza Proctor. Thank you for helping me earlier."

"N-No problem," Geo said nonchalantly, though he really wanted to strangle her for getting in his way. It took a few seconds to realize what she said her name was. "Eliza… Proctor…" he repeated out loud. He looked over at the judge with the same last name."

"That's right." Judge Proctor confirmed. "Eliza is my daughter." The man got up from his seat. "And you are?"

"Geo… Geo Grace."

"Well then Mr. Grace," the Judge said walking around the desk. "Eliza told me what happened at the restaurant, about those brutal men and the fact that you were protecting her."

"Actually, they just pissed me off." Geo thought again.

"I apologize for the mix up." The Judge said sincerely. "You were wrongly arrested and should not have been sent to the dungeon."

Geo was overjoyed to hear this. He did not think they would believe him if he told them the truth, but here it is, Geo was actually proven innocent and he didn't have to lie or fight his way out. He was actually a free man.

"You should be released immediately for your wrongful imprisonment… however…"

"Oh crap now what?" Geo thought.

"It was brought to my attention that you used an Arte back in the restaurant. That particular Arte you used was a Base Arte called Azure Edge, am I right?"

"Yes sir," Geo agreed.

"Azure Edge is a Base Arte that collects Prana from the air and blasts it out in an energy form. To collect Prana, the life energy our world needs to survive, and release it in a powerful physical form is what an Arte is."

"I'm aware." Geo agreed politely. What he really wanted to say was "This stuff is common knowledge you damn old coot, what does any of this have to do with me being innocent?"

"The history of your particular Arte comes from the eastern part of the Ophan country where it is taught in a dojo lead by Master Arcana Magner. By any chance are you a student of his?"

Geo grimaced at the mention of the name. He wanted desperately to erase the memories he had from training under that man. It pained him to answer. "I was a student."

"Was?" the judge raised an eyebrow.

"If it's all the same with you, I'd rather not talk about that part of my life." Geo said not looking the judge directly in the eyes.

The judge nodded noticing the uneasiness in Geo's tone. "If it makes you feel uncomfortable I won't press the subject any further." The judge cleared his throat. "Now, this interest in who you are made me look up something that I just remembered seeing a while ago. It was a wanted poster."

"Oh crap," Geo thought. He glanced all around the room not moving his head, his eyes darting around at the walls. The only window is right in front of him and he's on the fourth story, plus that pretty boy knight was right in the room, and since he's a high rank he has to be strong despite his youthful looks. Behind him was two other knights, and Geo himself had no weapon, no equipment, nothing to fight with. Bottom line, Geo can't escape. He knew what was coming.

The judge took out a sheet of paper with a rather poorly drawn picture of a young man with black hair. On the top, there were big letters that spelled "Wanted: Geo Grace, Outlaw." Bellow the picture was a list of crimes committed by said person. These crimes included "Burglary, Robbery, Destruction of Public Property, Assault, Thievery, Trespassing, Arson, Manslaughter, and Escaping Custody." Bellow was a bounty of 15,000 Gald.

"This person is you, is it not?" Judge Proctor asked.

Geo sighed annoyed. He knew this was coming. "Yes," he replied realizing there was nothing he could do but tell the truth.

The judge put the wanted poster down. "I believe the reason you came to Seraph was to escape this bounty, am I right?" Judge Proctor concluded.

"That's right," Geo agreed with a sour tone. "That and to not get involved in a little problem."

"Little problem?" the judge questioned.

Geo looked around the room, a reflex he had from making sure no one was listening to a conversation that could get him in deep trouble with crime lords. "Back in Ophan, there are rumors something's going to happen."

"What kind of rumors?" the judge questioned.

"I'd rather not go into details." Geo explained stopping himself from speaking any further, knowing full well what happens to people who talk too much. "At any rate, it has nothing to do with Seraph or our current conversation." Geo fixed his eyes on the judge. "So your honor…" Geo now spoke in his usual more relaxed tone. "…you know I'm an Outlaw, so what happens now?"

The judge walked over to his desk and sat back down in his chair. "If we found that you came to our country illegally…" which he had "…then we will send you back to Ophan and turn you over to the authorities." Looks like its back to the dungeon for Geo.

"Father," the priestess Eliza interjected. "This young man helped me earlier today, we should not condemn him for it." Geo silently listened to the girl. "The teachings of Enoch clearly stated that 'a good deed done deserves a good deed in return.'" Geo could not believe what he was hearing. Was the head judge of the Seraph Supreme Court really going to buy this righteous crap?

"Of course," Judge Proctor agreed. He's actually buying it? "I myself am entitled to repay you for my daughter's sake." The Judge sat up straight in his chair. "I have a proposition for you. Sir Avalon, if you may."

The nodded and stood up. "Geo Grace, as you may know, there a great crusade going on in our country called the Crusade of Enoch. The purpose of this crusade is to purge the world of the Wickeds of Des who are slowly killing our world, and create a perfect world in the image of Enoch and his Benevolents. However, we need the support of the people to make this perfect world. Any one person can assist, and any one person can join to make the world a better place." Geo rolled his eyes wondering how many times this guy rehearsed that speech. "Geo, if you have a desire to change and use your fighting talents for the betterment of man kind, then we welcome you to the Crusade."

"Huh," Geo blurted not sure he heard right.

"We would like you to join us in the Crusade of Enoch." The knight elaborated.

Geo took a few seconds to let what the knight just said sink in. After he fully grasped the concept of what was just offered to him, he began to snicker. That snicker soon evolved into a chuckle, and that chuckle soon became a loud roar of laughter. Those in the room silently waited patiently as he finished up his little laughing fit.

Once he simmered down, Geo straightened up and looked at the group. "There is a laundry list of reasons why that is a bad idea. For the most obvious reason, I'm an outlaw."

"Enoch does not judge child." The head priestess who remained silent since her introduction spoke up. "If you truly wish to change for then better, then Enoch will welcome you to his Crusade."

"I'm more concerned with the other people in the Crusade. I doubt they will feel comfortable with a criminal in their ranks."

"Those who take part in the crusade do not judge." The pretty boy Avalon assured. As if he knows what others think.

"Another problem is the fact that I'm not exactly a hardcore Enoch follower like you guys."

"Hard…core…" Eliza questioned with an extremely puzzled look on her face.

"I believe he is trying to say he is not very religious." The knight attempted to translate.

"I'm religious," Geo assured. "But I don't worship Enoch. I worship the spirits and our natural world. You know the seven spirits who run the world."

"Oh," the head priestess Sister Marian said rather uneasily. "So you are a Pagan?"

"That's what you people call us. But hey, that's how it is in Ophan. Most people are either atheist or pagans. We need to; after all, it's the spirits who control nature. We need to get on their good side if we want favorable weather in our desert homeland."

"I understand." Sister Marian said with a nod. "You do not have to convert your faith so soon, as long as you have faith and wish to make the world a better place, you will always be welcomed. But one day, you may need to convert, just keep that in mind."

"Okay," Geo nodded. "But why do you want me? What do you get out of all this?" Geo lived all his life in a give and take relationship with other people. It is only natural he feels suspicious.

"Get," Eliza questioned. "We get to save a soul. To convert someone who are lost away from the path of ruin." Either that was some bad gruel Geo ate earlier, or this girl has some major stomach churning powers. "I can tell just by looking at you, you can reach great heights if you take the right path." What's with this girl and the word path? "So as a priestess of Enoch, it is my duty to save you from self destruction. That is why I choose you as a candidate for joining the crusade." Geo could not help to wonder what kind of sick and twisted thing he ever did to disserve this speech, besides the obvious.

"And it is because of Eliza that I am offering you this position." Judge Proctor explained. "Here is my proposition; if you repent your sins and join the Crusade, we will not send you back to Ophan."

Geo silently thought. One side, he would join a crusade that provides everything for him and all he had to do was kick some ass. On the other side, going back to Ophan and suffer a fate worst then death… tough choice.

"Alright," Geo agreed. "I'll join the Crusade."

"Excellent," the judge exclaimed. "Then it's settled. You will serve under Sir Avalon's squad starting immediately." Geo looked at the judge puzzled.

Sir Avalon extended his hand towards Geo. "I hope we work well together." Geo uneasily shook the man's hand.

"Oh dammit," Geo muttered when it was made clear that the annoyingly handsome knight was going to be his leader. Hopefully, the rest of his comrades won't be this annoying.

"Come with me Mr. Grace." Sister Marian instructed. "Let's go to the church so we may confess your sins and replenish your soul. It took all of Geo's strength to hold back saying "I hope you'll bring a good book."

As he was prepared to leave, he saw the young cyan-haired priestess Eliza walked to him. "I know you'll be fine. If you need anything, come and see me." Geo could have sworn she was hitting on him. Well, he could have if she wasn't a priestess.

Geo turned to leave, following the Head Priestess with the two guards following close behind. "I swear, these Seraph people are way too soft." He mumbled.

To be continued…

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**Skits**

I have skits for my story just like the Tales of Series. Here is the first three sets of skits. For the skits, Geo is normal while _Eliza is Italicized_.

**Ophan Dialogue** (After the meeting with the judge)

What a pain in the ass. Well, at least I got off the hook. Pretty sweet how your old man to let my crimes slide like that, he's alright.

_Off… the hook… sweet… slide… what do you mean by he's alright?_

(sighs) Do I have to explain myself to you every time I talk?

_I'm sorry but between your accent and dialogue I can't really tell what you're trying to say. Could you please speak so that I can understand you better?_

Oh come on, this is basic Ophan dialogue. You should at least get the general idea of what I'm talkin' about.

_It's pronounced talking about._

Why the hell…

_And please refrain from cursing. If you're going to be a member of the crusade, then you have to set a good example for the people._

Hello… outlaw…boat… sailed…

_I'm aware you're an outlaw, but what does a boat have to do with any of this?_

You gotta' be freakin' kidding me. What's with you Seraph folk and grammar?

_You're doing it again._

(sighs)

**Good for the Soul** (After the meeting with the judge)

Man that took for ever. That Sister Marian's a piece of work.

_What did you talk about with Sister Marian?_

Confessions.

_Is that so? And do you feel any better?_

About what?

_Confessions are meant to purify the soul. Now that you confessed, you should feel enlightened to become a better person. Now, do you feel any better now that the huge weight was lifted off your shoulders?_

Now that you mention it… no.

_You don't feel any better at all?_

All I did was tell her all the bad things I did.

_And you don't feel like a burden was lifted off your shoulder?_

Nope, not at all.

_Well, at least you did your duty and confessed your sins. I'm pretty sure Sister Marian praised you for that._

Actually, after I was done, she just walked away with a disturbed look on her face, didn't say a word.

_Huh?_

She also ordered that I get two more guards put around me, I stay twenty meters away from the priestess' dorm, I have a curfew before sunset, I stay out of kitchens, and I'm not aloud near anything flammable and/or explosive.

_(What exactly did he confess to?)_

**Recipe Book** (Occurs before you get a Recipe Book along with the Rice Ball Recipe)

_Hmmm… so good…._

Whatcha eatin'?

_I'm eating one of my special Rice Balls. I made it myself._

You cook?

_Cooking is one of the first things we are taught as priestesses. We cook for the poor and the men and women participating in the crusade. Do you cook?_

My diet's usually preserved foods and pretty much anything I can get my hands on. You know, wild plants, monster meat, but mainly beans.

_That's not a very balanced diet. You need a verity of food in your system if you're going to grow into a strong individual. Here's a Recipe Book. It only has the Recipe for Rice Balls, but you can collect more recipes from all over the world, and put them in this book._

(reads) Ingredients for Rice Balls… rice… wow, this recipe seems too complex for me, I don't know if I can manage.

_I know it doesn't seem like much, but you can also add other ingredients to give it more flavor. That's what I do with my special Rice Balls._

What's in yours?

_Anchovies, Mayonnaise, and Green Peppers._

… It sounded like you said you put Anchovies, Mayonnaise, and Green Peppers in that rice ball you're eating.

_I did, you want me to make you one?_

… I'm going over there now (Leaves).

_Hey... my taste isn't that odd… is it?_

_Geo received the Recipe Book. _

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Also hope you liked the skits. Like I said, this chapters just got minor differences then the one I posted on the forum. I hope you continue reading. Until next time, **Please Review** my story. Tell me what you think and the direction you want me to take.


	5. Chapter 02: Squad Nadir

Here's the next chapter to my story. I hope you enjoy it. And please review, your feedback is needed.

* * *

**Chapter 2: ****Squad Nadir**

Negotiations were brutal, but he did it. He was able to have all the charges against him dropped in exchange for participating in the Crusade of Enoch. His conditions were as followed. He must stay with the squad he was assigned to unless told otherwise, he must always have a chaperone, and he must do his part in the crusade… no goofing off.

"Minor annoyances," Geo told himself. "As long as these people stay out of my way, we'll get along fine."

Now here he was this bright and sunny morning, in front of a long door leading to the squad he was to fight with. With four knights behind him and this big door in front of him, he could not help but feel uneasy. He would feel easier if it wasn't for the priestess that stood next to him. For some reason, she would not leave him alone after the meeting with her father.

"Why are you here again?" Geo asked annoyed.

"I was appointed your chaperone remember?" Eliza replied. "I'm supposed to look after you as you go on the Crusade."

"Does that mean you're coming with me when I leave?"

"Yes. It is my duty as a priestess to…"

"Spread the word of Enoch, lead others down the right path, and get others involved in the Crusade of Enoch. I heard this crap already; can we just go in now?"

"You're very rude."

"Tell me something I don't know." Geo said looking at the door once again. He could not shake the feeling of anxiety, thinking about what kind of people he'll be forced to come in contact with for who knows how long. "So, the people I'm travelin' with are right behind this door."

"That's right." Eliza confirmed. "The Squad is called Squad Nadir, a heavily decorated squad. Every person on your team is very advanced in their field. They have good reputations and are said to be extremely powerful."

"I guess it makes sense I get put on a team like that."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm an outlaw remember. If I get put on a team of weaklings I could just kick their asses and get lost rather easily. It makes sense I would get put on a powerful team." Geo could not help but smirk at the deduction. "Well played Judge Proctor." He thought.

"I don't think the reason why you were assigned to this team matters."

"What about what this team's going to think of me? I'm pretty sure at least half of them aren't going to be too thrilled of having a trouble making outlaw on their team."

"Now I know that is nothing to worry about." Eliza said with a smile. "Sure, first impressions may not go all that well, but once you all get to know each other, I bet you'll all be the closest comrades there is."

Geo rolled his eyes. "Just knock on the door before you break into another overly righteous speech."

As Geo waited patiently, Eliza knocked on the great door. The door proceeded to open as that the pretty boy knight, Avalon Geo belied it was, peered out. Every time Geo saw him, he could not help but think "Oh crap not this guy again." The worst part is this knight was the leader of Squad Nadir, so he'll be seeing a lot more of this pretty boy in the future, and worst yet, he'll be taking orders from him. Geo at this point was past annoyance and in a very pissed off mindset.

"I can take it from here gentlemen." The man dismissed the knights in a soothing voice. The four knights saluted and went off in their own ways. The silver haired man then turned his attention to Geo and Eliza. "You didn't have a hard time finding this room did you?"

"Not at all Sir Avalon." Eliza assured with a smile.

Avalon directed his eyes at Geo. "It's time to meet your comrades." Geo shivered at the sound of that last word.

The room Geo entered what looked like a meeting room. The room was rectangular shaped, the same bright white color as the rest of the castle is, and has a round table in the center. Five people, excluding Geo, Eliza, and Avalon, were in this room waiting patiently. The room included two men, two women, and a young boy. Everyone but the boy sat in a chairs aligning the round table. The boy stood behind a chair in the farthest end of the room.

The table had eight chairs, four of them were empty. Geo assumed three of them were for Avalon, Eliza, and himself, but he did not know why the other was empty. It obviously wasn't for the boy or he would be sitting. Evidently there was someone else late to the party.

Geo took a good looked at the people around him who looked over at him accusingly. They obviously knew his background judging by the stares he was getting. He already knew there was going to be some tension within the group.

"Eliza," a woman's voice called. Geo and Eliza turned to see one of the women, a woman with long blond hair, sitting in a chair to the right call. "I must say I was surprised to hear you will be joining the crusade." The woman was a priestess like Eliza, but with more gold in her outfit. She appeared to be a higher rank then Eliza.

"Greetings Lady Angelas." Eliza greeted. "Since Squad Nadir's members increased, I was added on so that the team could have more Clerics."

"I suppose it would be a pain being the only healer in such a big squad." The priestess agreed.

"Friend of yours?" Geo interrupted, mainly because the woman's voice annoyed him.

"This is Lady Mina Angelas," Eliza explained. "She's a peer of mine from the church. She's a genius cleric that knows healing artes well past her current rank."

"That's right," the Mina priestess said proudly. "This squad is rather lucky to have me. I'm one of the best priestesses in my class. I'm a first class priestess, the highest ranking priestess there is, mainly because my benevolent artes are as some call it, top notch."

"Modest, isn't she?" Geo whispered to Eliza.

"Please show your respect." Eliza scolded in a low tone. "Lady Mina has done more for the kingdom then any priestess in the Order."

"Sure whatever," Geo said shrugging her off.

"At any rate Geo," Avalon interjected. "While we're waiting for our final member to arrive, why don't you meet your comrades?" That word again.

"Who's late?" Eliza asked.

"Meister Trident." Avalon explained.

"Who?" Geo asked somewhat interested.

"He's a mage with advanced skills for his young age." Eliza explained. "His knowledge of the five elements exceeds many of the Mages in the King's Royal court."

"Another big cheese huh." Geo said unimpressed.

"Big… cheese…" Eliza repeated.

"Forget it," He replied not wanting to explain his dialogue again.

Geo turned his attention to a woman in blue noble clothing sitting next to the priestess Mina. This woman sat in her chair not bothering to turn her head towards Geo, but instead read a small book. She seemed to have a proper dignity that showed in the way she sat, her short red hair drooping down straight and her serious blue eyes not leaving the book.

"So who's the bookworm?" Geo asked.

"If you're referring to her, she's Lady Cassidy Louise Val Megara." Sir Avalon replied.

"Could we use less syllables?"

"We call her Lady Megara." Avalon obliged. "She's the king's third cousin, and daughter to the Duke. She's extremely skilled at fencing and will be a valuable member to our squad."

"I bet you're just sayin' that because the other two girls are unavailable."

"What do you mean?" Avalon asked puzzled.

"Nothing," Geo said looking away not wanting to be scolded by not one, but two annoying priestesses. As he did, he noticed a slight tint of red in the woman's serious face. It seems as though she got what Geo said. Geo grinned as her realized what the situation was. "Well, looks like someone's got a crush on a certain oblivious knight," he whispered to himself. Geo already found some blackmail material so early in the crusade.

"Well now," Avalon said motioning to the two males sitting on the opposite side of the table. "Allow me introduce you to Sir Keen Basen and Rex Subara."

One he referred to was a knight with tan skin and white hair. He wore armor similar to Avalon's but a darker shade of grey. The other man wore a white shirt, brown overalls, black boots, and a brown circular hat. This was the kind of outfit you would see a man who grew up in the prairie would wear.

"Cherubim, right?" Geo guessed pointing to the man in brown referred to as Rex.

"Right," he said with an accent. "How'd you know?"

"Most of Cherubim's a grassland. You're clothing's the type you would see in a prairie. But what's a Cherubian doing here. I thought your countries didn't get along."

"That's right," Rex replied. "But I'm from the far west part of Cherubim. That part shares Seraph's ideals. I used to be an average rancher, but I moved here to join this little party."

"Average you say." Geo repeated. "Well considering the type of people in this party I find it hard to believe you're anything below average."

"Well then," the so called rancher said fixing his hat over his black hair with a smirk. "You'll just have to find that out for yourself how 'average' I am."

Geo turned his attention to the tan knight. The knight glared at him with the most accusing look, his red eyes fixed on Geo. Geo glared back knowing full well what that look was. He received that look many times in Ophan. When someone stared at you the way this pissed off knight was it only mean one thing. Said person was picking a fight.

"Something wrong?" Geo asked with a smile not reacting to the challenge.

The knight scoffed and turned away. "Nothing at all." He replied coldly.

As if foreseeing a violent action about to take place, Avalon cleared his voice breaking the tension. "Sir Keen is one of the strongest knights in the royal court. He's been especially decorated for his bravery and fortitude in combat."

Geo did not respond. He just turned his attention to the boy in the far side of the room, a small child around twelve years old with dirty blond hair and green eyes. "And who's the runt some whiz kid child prodigy?" Geo questioned. This caused the boy to shrink back.

"He's my squire Cody," Avalon explained. "He's going to handle our supplies and tending to us after every battle. He won't be doing any fighting."

"So he's the towel boy." Geo said putting it in his terms.

"I wouldn't call him that."

"I would."

Avalon sighed as if realizing Geo may have a difficult time adjusting to the group. As he prepared to say something, someone knocked on the door to the room. Avalon, turning his attention to the door walked over to answer it. Opening it, he peered through and engaged in a short exchange of words with whoever it was on the other side.

Avalon then turned to the group. "Excuse me for a moment my friends. It seems as though an urgent matter has come up. I'll return shortly." Avalon left the room closing the door behind him.

Now here Geo was, alone with the super annoying priestess, the super obnoxious priestess, the book worm, the 'average' Cherubian, the pissed off knight, and the towel boy. Geo could not help but wonder if he was in some sort of comedy play.

Geo decided now was the time to break the ice and get certain matters out of the way. "So," he began walking over to the table and sitting down in the empty chair next to Sir. Keen. "I assume you guys know about me."

For a moment nobody said anything until Rex spoke up. "Aye," he confirmed.

"So I was wondering. Any of you have any objections about me being put on the team." Silence again.

"Geo," Eliza attempted to interrupt sensing tension in the air.

"We may as well get the awkward first impression thing over with." Geo explained. "We'll be travelin' together for a while, so we may as well break the ice here and now. Just speak your mind, and don't worry about what would happen if Avalon finds out. I'm pretty sure nobody in this room will tell him what was said in this room… right?" his eyes were focused mainly on the squire who he assumed would be the most likely snitch. The boy panicked at Geo's cold stare and nodded franticly agreeing no to say a word. "Now, tell me what on your minds?"

"Heh," Rex said with a smirk. "I don't really care about my comrades backgrounds."

"You're too laidback." The priestess Mina said as though he disgusted her. "I'll admit I was a little apprehensive about what would happen if we were to let a criminal in our fleet. But if it is the church's request, I must accept it."

"She really loves to hear herself talk." Geo thought. He turned to the noble lady Megara to see what she had to say. "And you?"

"I hold nothing against you." She responded calmly not taking her eyes off her book.

"So she can talk." Geo thought. Deciding not to count the squire he skipped straight to his favorite knight with burning red eyes. "What about you Chuckles?"

Sir Keen grunted glaring at Geo. "Refer to me by my name peasant."

Geo grinned realizing he's going to have fun with this one. "Okay Sir Keen, what do you think about me?"

Sir Keen glared once again before speaking. "What I think is that it is a disgrace to add filth in our squad."

"Sir Keen!" Eliza scowled.

"No wait Eliza." Geo said shrugging her off. "It's obvious he's got something on his mind. Let him finish." Geo shifted in his seat and looked at Sir Keen directly in his eyes. "Well, go ahead."

The knight rose from his seat, looking down at Geo as he sat there with a defiant look on his face. "We are a group of highly trained and honorable fighters, each an expert in our field. Squad Nadir is currently the strongest squad assembled. Truly it is the pride of the kingdom. We all had to work hard to get where we are now, and here you are, some common rogue weaseling his way into the Crusade just so you don't have to go back to that slime infested wasteland you came from. It sickens me to no end to even think that I'll be traveling with you, a mere stain on our world, not fit enough to live an honest life."

Geo just sat there taking the verbal abuse, waiting patiently for him to finish. When it was clear he was done, Geo once again shifted in his chair. Everyone silently waited to see what Geo would do next; most of them appeared to believe he would react violently, especially Sir Keen who clenched his fist apparently looking for a fight.

"Let's get some issues straight here." Geo said not taking his eyes off of Sir Keen. "First, I don't give a damn why you're on this crusade or what it's about. This is just something for me to do before I decide what I'm going to do about my future. Second, I'm not fixing to be friends with any of you. Once I serve my time, I'm a free man, and we'll never have to see each other again. Third, we have to work together but we don't have to like each other. In fact, it doesn't really matter what we think of each other. So here's the deal, you stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours."

Sir Keen growl again out of anger. "You dare treat me like hindrance?"

Much to everyone's surprise, Geo just smiled and nodded "Yeah, pretty much."

At this, the knight's face turned a deep red with anger. His face scowled in a fury over being talked down by someone he viewed as inferior. The knight could barley contain himself any further. He was just seconds away from lunging at Geo who was ready to leap out of the chair and counter anything the furious knight was going to do. Everyone else sensing the intent to kill coming from the knight got up from out of their chairs. Both Megara and Rex looked like they were either prepared to fight or restrain the angry knight while Mina backed away in fright. The boy Cody hid under the table sensing violence about to occur while Eliza, unsure about what to do stood there frozen, not sure about what to make of the situation. Everyone was preparing for a brawl. It's a good thing that brawl never came.

The door to the room opened and everyone turned, forgetting about the current situation. Through the large door came Sir Avalon, who turned around once to acknowledge and unseen person on the other side of the door and shut it. Turning his attention back on the group, he sighed rather distraught.

"I'm sorry about departing for a brief period." Avalon said with a bow.

"Don't worry about it." Geo said with a shrug. "It gave us all time to get to know one another." He chuckled silently as the infuriated Sir Keen turned away to cool down. Geo took notice of this realizing for some reason Keen did not want to be in any trouble with Sir Avalon for some reason. Most likely it was to not have his reputation soiled among other knights. Nobles sure love their reputations.

"Very well," Sir Avalon said with a nod not noticing the room's prior hostility. "Now everyone, I was just informed that our Mage Clay Trident is in Syria. He is there investigating the reports of a small group of skinwalkers who are hiding within that town. Our mission is to go to Syria and back him up if the report turns out to be true. We're to leave immediately."

"Heh," Geo said getting up. "Got a mission already. Fine by me, but I need some equipment before I go any place."

"You're right." Avalon agreed. "Eliza, please lead him to the blacksmith and shops. Tell them I'll pay for whatever he buys later. Meet us at the front of the gate by noon."

"Y-Yes Sir Avalon," Eliza said still shaken by the events that took place earlier. She proceeded to walk out of the room with Geo following close behind. Geo took one last glance at the people behind him who stared back with disapproving expressions, Keen's being a more bloodlust expression then anyone else's. Satisfied, Geo decided it best not to antagonize Keen any further as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Geo stretched nonchalantly feeling like he accomplished a lot today. "I think that went well." He said as the two walked down the hallway.

"Went well!?" Eliza finally blurted out. Who knows how long she was holding her frustration in as the events unfolded around her. "You made enemies out of more then half the group!"

"It went better then I expected. I was excepting more bloodshed."

"H-How can… you… I…" Eliza was dumbfounded. She could not think of the right things to say in this situation. Nothing in her teachings could prepare her for someone who has very little regards of others and their feelings. Not only did he almost pick a fight with Sir Keen, but he showed no shame in proclaiming he didn't see any of those people as comrades.

"Get use to it Miss Proctor." Geo said reading her expression. "You saw me today on my best behavior. From this point on it's down a path to ruin." Geo grinned as he walked ahead of her. "You're welcomed to join me."

Eliza could not help but wonder what she got herself into. Who is this person who appeared before her in the restaurant just a day ago? Will he go down the 'path of ruin' like he promised? "No," Eliza thought. "As a priestess I must do my duty to save this poor soul. I promise you Geo Grace. I will help you see the light of Enoch." Determined, she quickened her pace catching up to Geo.

To be continued…

* * *

**Skits**

Geo is Normal, Eliza _is Italicized_, and both _**Geo and Eliza are Bold and Italicized**__._

**The Axe is Scarier then the Sword** (Occurs after going to the shop)

_May I ask you something Geo?_

Yeah, what is it?

_Why do you choose to fight with a battle axe? I don't mean to criticize your fighting style mind you, but wouldn't a sword be more affective? _

Please, every Average Joe out there has a sword. A sword is common, predictable, and boring. Nobody is going to be scared of a sword. Show a bandit a sword and they stand and fight. Show them a battle axe, and they'll run away while crappin' themselves.

_So what you're saying is that you battle with an axe because it is more intimidating?_

That and I prefer hacking at my opponents. Way more satisfying then stabbing and slashing (snickers).

_S-Scary…_

**Too Easy** (Occurs after the meeting)

Hahahahaha, these guys are making it too easy. The kingdom is actually paying me to fight a bunch of skinwalkers and sorcerers. Not only that, but I'll start over with a clean slate, get some respect, and use my position s a crusader to get whatever I want. All I got to do is be a good boy, look for a few 'criminals' and it's smooth sailing from now on. Forget two birds with one stone, I'm slaying a flock. Hehehe, oh yeah, I got it made.

**I Promise You** (Occurs after the meeting. Note: They are both saying these in their minds.)

_(How could he be so rude?)_

(How can she be such a pain?)

_(He just doesn't understand what's right and wrong.)_

(She doesn't get what kind of life I live.)

_(What will happen to this poor soul in the future?) _

(Why should she care what I do with my life?)

_(No, I won't let it happen!)_

(Well I'm done playing around!)

_(I can't let it end for him!)_

(I'm putting an end to her persistence!)

_(I know you are a good person; you just need to know how to reflect it.) _

(You expect me to be a thug; I'll show you how much of a thug I am.)

_(I'll show you the way to heaven Mr. Grace.) _

(Prepare to go straight to hell Miss Proctor.)

_(I promise you!)_

(I promise you!)

_**(I will break you!) **_


	6. Chapter 03: Mini Boss

Here's a new chapter. It's mainly talk, some funny parts, but it moves the story in the right direction. Hope you enjoy. The next chapter will be up shortly.**

* * *

******

Chapter 03: Mini Boss

"No way in hell am I wearing any more armor then this," Geo stated in his new attire as he sat on the step of a carriage sharpening his battle axe with a grindstone. Over his outfit, he wore armored gauntlets over his wrists and forearms, and armor covering his shoulders and the top portion of his chest with a symbol in the center. Geo compared the symbol to a lollipop, though not verbally so he does not get an ear full from the fanatic priestess.

"But you must wear all of the armor of the Crusades," Eliza stated. "If you're to become a Crusader, you must be equipped with the traditional armor."

"Armor's for fighters who are too slow to dodge attacks. My battle strategy depends on speed and power; armor's just gonna slow me down. This should be good enough."

"Honestly," Eliza said rather annoyed at Geo's defiance. "Fine, just as long as you're wearing the Crusade's symbol." Geo assumed she meant the lollipop symbol.

Squad Nadir received mission to go to a Seraph town and check on supposed skinwalkers in the area. They were set to leave in some carriages prepared for them, and now Geo and Eliza went on to meet the rest of the Crusade members. Eliza insisted they go early to not be a burden to the rest of the Crusaders. She however could not help but feel it was showing disrespect that Geo did not wear the armor of the Crusade and wanted desperately for him to comply with tradition.

"This is good enough." Geo stated stubbornly refusing to wear the rest of his armor. "By the way, what's with your change of clothes?" Geo asked referring to Eliza's new choice of attire.

"I traded my priestess gown for clothing more suitable for travel." She explained. It did seem like it was more suitable for going around and battling. She had on a turquoise jacket with long sleeves. It was aligned with golden markings of the church. On her back was the symbol of Enoch, a circle with a line coming down. Geo compared it to a lollipop, though not verbally. She had short white pants and light blue shoes with lines of gold. She no longer wore a cap on her head, but a triangular golden hairpiece in the side of her head. Around her waist was a grey belt with a two-foot long rod holstered at the side.

"The clergy give you that?" Geo asked.

"Yes," Eliza answered. "They provide us with everything necessary for travel, even this rod, enchanted with the benevolent power of Enoch. They gave lady Angelas her clothing and weapon too."

"Angelas…" Geo thought for a moment, recalling the blonde priestess from earlier. "She's the stuck up priestess from earlier right?"

"Please show your respect when around her," scolded the priestess. "She's very important to the squad and the Crusade."

"Fascinating," Geo said rolling his eyes. "Please, inform this ignorant savage why he should care that Lady Angelas exists."

Ignoring the tone of Geo's voice, she proceeded to explain. "Lady Angelas is the first daughter of House Von Angelas. They control a vast majority of land, and are a major contributor to the Crusade. Her father is a high ranked noble within the noble court."

"Then why is such an important guy's daughter participating in the Crusades? Shouldn't she be off marrying some rich guy?"

"From what I understand, she was engaged, but the engagement was called off. I don't really know the details myself, but I think she has some issues with her family that called it off."

"Really," Geo commented. "That explains a lot. I only met her once and she all ready came off as a diva. Now I know why."

"I told you to refrain from talking about Lady Angelas like that." Eliza scolded.

Geo just sighed annoyed. "Why are you defending that woman? Just from first impressions I could tell she treats you more like a dog then a comrade."

"She's a First-Class Priestess, just below a Bishop. She outranks me, so I must follow her orders."

"What's you're rank?"

"I'm…" she paused evidently embarrassed by her words. "A Third-Class Priestess … just one rank above a Deacon."

"And I'm going to assume you got the second lowest rank in the clergy." She did not bother to respond. "Looks like I ain't the only underdog on the team." To this Eliza did not respond. "Speaking of rank, aren't you going to say goodbye to your old man?"

"I already did," Eliza assured.

"So he isn't seeing you off?"

"He's far too busy, he can't leave his office." Eliza gave an uneasy smile as she recalled her goodbye.

* * *

"_Are you sure you want to do this?" Judge Proctor asked his daughter. _

"_I am father," Eliza assured looking out of the window of his office. "This is my chance to do something for Seraph, and to tell the truth I was thinking about leaving for a long time." She turned to her father who was still skeptical about letting his only child go out in the Crusades, knowing the danger. "I know about the risks, but you know I have to do this." She smiled brightly. "Don't worry father, I'll be among the greatest team Crusaders in the kingdom, including Lady Angelas." _

"_You'll also be with… him…" referring to Geo. "You hardly know this young man and yet you are willing to travel with him, knowing his past?" _

"_It is my duty to help the lost father. Besides, I truly don't think he's as bad as everyone is making him out to be. He just needs to be nudged in the right direction." _

_The judge sighed realizing that he would not be able to convince his daughter otherwise. "If you must go, then it is not my place to stop you." He his daughter in the eyes. "You always put others ahead of yourself. That's the one aspect of your personality that worries me." _

"_I'll say this one more time," Eliza assures once. "Don't worry about me father. I'll be fine."_

"_Come back soon Eliza," The judge said embracing his child. _

_Hugging her father back, she replied with a simple "I will father." _

* * *

As the memory ended, she recalled everything her father taught her and knew that it would all be useful as she takes part in the Crusades. She then turned her attention to Geo who had an apple in his hand and bit into it.

"Is that an apple?" Eliza asked.

"Looks, smells, and tastes like it," Geo responded. He held up a small bag full of red and green apples from his other hand. "Want one?"

"Oh why thank you," Thanked Eliza who took one for herself. "I do so love apples. Especially when they're covered in relish."

Geo looked at her with disgust. "Relish?"

"Yes, it's very delectable."

"When was the last time you went out to cook for the less fortunate?"

"Not for a while," Eliza explained. "For some reason Sister Marian no longer gives me those responsibilities."

"The less fortunate are unfortunate enough as it is I suppose," Geo thought. He considered taking a bite of his apple, but after listening to the priestess' enjoyment of condiments with fruit, he lost his appetite.

"By the way, where did you get these apples?"

"From the fruit stand we passed."

"But we didn't stop at the stand. We just passed…" It took only a moment for her to process what Geo had done. She looked at him with alarm. "Did you?"

"Oh gee, you know me so well, and in such a short amount of time." Geo said with an indifferent smirk.

At this, Eliza stood in his path and glared up at him. "How could you?" she demanded. "You have just been pardoned by my father, allowed into the Crusades, and the first thing you do is st…" Geo quickly shoved the stolen apple he was eating into Eliza's mouth to shut her up.

"Man you're loud," Geo stated. He looked around and noticed people were beginning to stare at the two. Knowing that apple won't stay in her mouth, he took her hand and proceeded to inside an alley where no people were around. Just as Eliza managed to pry the jammed apple from her teeth, Geo was looking around double checking that no one was watching.

Eliza coughed as she began to voice her dissatisfaction in his actions. "What were you thinking when you took those apples."

"Why those pants of yours aren't shorter." He answered.

Eliza began to blush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Answer me!"

"Just wanted to get it out of my system before I go straight. You know Cherubim wasn't built in a day."

"I'm aware it wasn't," Eliza insisted not understanding the expression. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do they have expressions in this country?" Geo asked irritated.

"Don't change the subject." Eliza demanded. She shook her head losing her patience. "Whatever the case, you must return those to the stand and apologize to the owners."

"Yeah, and who's going to make me, the little priestess who can't even stand up to a bunch of drunks?" Geo asked playfully pinching her left cheek and pulling with enough force to cause a great deal of discomfort. Eliza flailed a bit before Geo let her go.

Rubbing her cheek, Eliza glared at him angrily. "Don't you have any shame?"

"Shame," Geo repeated with amusement. "That's one word you'll never hear in Ophan."

"You are not in Ophan anymore," Eliza stated. "You're in Seraph now, and a Crusader, you must…"

"Monsters!" a sudden cry interrupted Eliza's protests. Both Eliza and Geo looked out of the alley to see where that scream came from.

The two saw a group of people running down the street. Whatever they were afraid of, it was opposite of their direction. As the people ran by, he heard things like 'monsters got in the city' and 'call the guards.'

"And I thought this town was boring," Geo commented finding amusement that there was trouble in paradise.

"Mr. Grace, we have to help them!" Eliza exclaimed forgetting their prior argument.

"Why?" Geo asked oblivious to his position.

Eliza's face dropped with anger once again. "You're a Crusader, you must protect civilians!"

"Huh," Geo asked a bit confused. He quickly realized what she meant and nodded his head indifferently. "Oh yeah, sure whatever," He proceeded to go towards the direction the people were running from.

As they advanced, Geo and Eliza almost had to force their way through the large number of people. Geo listened carefully for the sound of any monsters. Eventually, he heard a high pitched squeals coming from the edge of town.

Forcing their way through, thy eventually came across what had the town in such an uproar. All over the city were sores of huge boar like monsters, huge tusks protruding from their mouths, hunched backs and muscular legs make them bigger then they appeared. Eliza counted ten of them munching on the food in stands and fighting with each other over said food. Some knights, fully armored were fighting off these boars with limited success.

"These boars were the cause." Eliza stated. She looked over to see one of the walls surrounding the city broke down. She concluded that the boars broke through that wall. She turned to Geo expectantly. "We must deal with them quickly Mr. Grace… Mr. Grace?"

"You're kidding me right?" Geo questioned with a rather annoyed look on his face. "These people are panicking over a bunch of pigs?"

"They aren't just pigs," Eliza stated. "They're highly aggressive monsters. They…"

"Yeah I know," Geo assured. "We got similar monsters like these back in Ophan. But these things are just pigs in comparison." Geo shook his head in disgust. "I mean seriously, I know you Seraph folk are a bunch of wimps, but this is embarrassing, crappin' your pants over something made out of bacon."

One of the boars sniffing around turned to see Geo and Eliza. Eliza saw the lumbering beast glare at them with a fierce wrathful glint in its eye. "Mr. Grace," Eliza stuttered in an attempt to warn her comrade.

"I mean seriously, these things wouldn't even last two seconds against the boars in Ophan let alone any other monsters, hell Ophan boars would have them for breakfast with a pile of rocks on the side." The boar snorted as it proceeded to charge.

Eliza stepped back trying her best to warn Geo, but she couldn't, every word she said came out either wrong or cracked. She truly was frozen in place. Meanwhile, Geo was continually insulting the boars with his back towards the charging creature, apparently unaware of the massive behemoth charging at him.

"If the creatures in Seraph are really this pathetic then I wonder how weak the people are, unable to stand up against some huge ass...." The boar was just in striking distance when Geo twirled with his axe in hand and slashed the blade into the creature's skull. With some effort, Geo managed to side step out of the beast's way and proceeded to strike one of its forelegs. He then in a quick motion raised his axe and slammed it down with Geo exclaiming "Don't interrupt me when I'm insultin' you!" He buried the blade into the creature head, killing it instantly.

Eliza stood there, amazed at Geo's speed and power. "S-So powerful,"

"You know it," Geo said praising himself. He then turned his attention to the rest of the boars who apparently caught the scent of their fallen comrade and now glare at Geo, not out of vengeance, simply as acts of their aggressive natures.

"Hold this for me," Geo instructed giving Eliza the bag of apples he stole. One by one, the boars began to charge, and Geo was ready for them. "Nine orders of slaughterhouse specials, coming up." Geo called in a sadistically cheerful voice. "Yeehaw!"

He charged with a bloodlust in his eyes greater then the boars. One by one, he began to cut down the boars, within a matter of seconds, he slaughtered three of them in just a few seconds, and a fourth was on its way to be a corpse. With one slash the side of its head, sidestepped, then finished it by slashing stomach. He continued this for the others, slashing at their weak points, finishing them off with little difficulty.

As Eliza watched this, she took note of everything he did, from his nimble movements, to his powerful slashes. His movements, though impressive gave Eliza a kind of apprehensive feeling. She could feel the aggression that his moves gave off, even from her distance. The one thing she took special not of was the expression he had the whole time Geo fought. Throughout the battle, Geo had a grin on his face. With that mesmerizing-sadistic grin, he seemed like a demon of slaughter.

Eliza took her eyes off the battle and looked around at the bystanders. She saw many civilians with looks of amazement, horror, and disgust. Women shielded the eyes of children while men chattered among themselves over the events transpiring. 'Is he a crusader?' she heard one ask. She heard others accuse Geo of being a monster; others however were amazed at him. Even the knights didn't bother to help him, possibly too afraid to get too close and end up getting slaughtered by the outlaw. Geo seems like the kind of person who would do that in this situation.

Eventually, the last boar charged at Geo. Geo just smirked, and held his axe up. The blade began to glow with bright blue prana. "Let's end this," Geo called. Eliza recognized it as the Arte he used before.

_Azure Edge…_

A bright blue blast of prana was launched at his attacker. The beast was struck square in the face. With one blast squeal, the boar was knocked away, blasting right into a stand.

With that, all was quiet. Ten boar corpses lay in the streets, blood seeping from the wounds, in the center of the scene, Geo stood calmly, wiping the blood from his axe with the sadistic grin not leaving his face. Eliza shook at the sight of this. She finally got a glimpse of Geo's true nature, a sadist who enjoyed the heat of battle, and lived a life of violence. She could see why he was a wanted man back in his own country.

Geo, satisfied with his work, approached a boar corpse and took out a small pocket knife he kept hidden in his boots. Laying a cloth on the ground, he proceeded to cut up the side of the boar corpse and place the pieces into the cloth. Eliza cringed at the butchering. She was almost afraid to ask, "What are you doing?"

"Why waste perfectly good meat?" Geo asked cutting into some of the boar. "I killed them; I may as well get my money's worth."

Eliza looked away and saw bystanders, watching this in disgust. A lot of them turned away in disgust, Eliza even thought some of them would faint. "Mr. Grace, that's enough!" Eliza demanded.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Geo indifferently said wrapping up the meat. He got up and proceeded to walk off. As he did, he called to the knights who stood by visually afraid of the outlaw. "You guys can handle this right?" Geo called to them. They all tensed up after hearing he outlaw's question. Geo did not wait for a response. "Good, enjoy," As nonchalantly as if nothing happened, he left the scene carrying the sack full of meat. Eliza quickly followed carrying the bag of apples.

"Well that was more fun then I thought." Geo stated as he walked down the street. He seemed to not notice the people staring at him, bloodied clothing and all. Eliza could barley contain her outrage at Geo's lack of tact. Watching to Geo nonchalantly walk away as though the events never happened was her breaking point. "I wonder how Seraph boar meat tastes. Have you tri…"

"What was that?" Eliza demanded in a loud booming voice.

Geo sighed immediately realizing he was in for another earful. Feeling another scolding coming on, he looked around and found another alley. So as to not attract anymore unwanted attention, he motioned her to join him which she did, not loosing her anger. "What is it this time?" he asked once they entered the alley and gained some privacy.

"You killed all of those monsters mercilessly and didn't even care who saw, then you begin to cut one of them up? You didn't even take into consideration that there were women and children watching you. Crusaders are supposed to represent valor and honor, but the way you fight, you looked more like a butcher then a Crusader. You…"

"Alright…" Geo began. That first word started calmer, but as he spoke, he grew in anger. "…I get it. I'm a vicious thug from Ophan. I realize that I am beneath you 'noble' and 'heroic' Seraphs no matter what I do. Like today, heaven forbid I save a bunch of ingrates, I mean good people from a bunch of wild boars. Heaven forbid I bloody my armor while doing it or a bunch of bystanders are disgusted with brutality. Heaven forbid I actually do a god deed for once in my life. Heaven forbid, heaven forbid."

Geo's words began to get to her. She remembered realized Geo did actually save all those people, and here she was reprimanding him because he was not living up to the standards of a crusader. She could not help but feel ashamed of herself for her attitude towards him.

"I…" Eliza began.

"Don't," Interrupted Geo in a somewhat calmer voice. "I'm an outlaw remember." The next words he spoke were calm, but somewhat melancholic in nature. "I'm used to being treated like that, it comes with the job."

With that, an awkward silence fell on the two as they proceeded down the street. Eliza was tempted to say something, but what could she say? No matter what she thought, all the scenarios would end awkwardly. No matter what, she felt as though she must find the right words to express her thoughts. She prayed under her breath for some sort of ice breaker to shatter this uncomfortable silence.

"Mister," a voice called out. Both Geo and Eliza turned to see a small boy with brown hair looking up at him. The eleven year old boy wearing a grey outfit looked up at Geo wide eyed, not out of fear, but evidently concerned when he saw small fresh blood stains on his clothes and armor.

"Oh, it's you," Geo stated recognizing the young pickpocket.

"Do you know this young man," Eliza asked curiously. The boy looked over at Eliza, unsure of what to make of the priestess.

"Met him yesterday before I met you," Geo explained. "We helped each other out." He then turned to the ten year old young man. "Ollie, right?"

The boy nodded. "Are you alright?" He asked referring to the blood.

"Yeah, this isn't my blood," Geo assured. "I just got rid of some boars that got into town is all."

Ollie approached Geo closer and took a closer look at Geo's padding. He recognized the limited armor he had as part of the armor Crusaders wear. "Are you a Crusader?"

"Just became one today," Geo assured. He then looked over at Eliza, and decided it best to hide Ollie's thieving. "And how are your extracurricular activities going?" He asked the street urchin.

It took a while for Ollie to realize Geo was talking about his pickpocketing. "A-Actually, I'm not doing that anymore." His expression became sullen, looking down ashamed. "I'm just not cut out for… that kind of thing." He sighed recalling Geo's words. "You were right; I just don't have it in me."

Eliza sensed the boy's depression, and though she did not know what those two were talking about, she was incised to say something.

"Young man," Eliza said kneeling down to the young boy's level. Both Geo and Ollie looked at her curiously. "I'm not sure what it is you do, but you shouldn't give up so easily." Both were surprised by this. "One thing Enoch teaches is that one can only be the best if they practice. You should never say you are not 'cut out' for anything. You can be anything you put your mind to."

When she completed that sentence, she heard a sudden snicker coming from Geo. Looking up, she saw Geo, facing the side of a building, chuckling like crazy, trying his best not to laugh out loud. He could barley contain himself. He, an outlaw told the boy to give up pickpocketing, while a priestess is unwittingly encouraging the boy. He could not help but find the irony of the situation amusing. Even Ollie couldn't help but chuckle at the situation.

"What's so funny," Eliza asked confused.

"Nothing, nothing," Geo replied though still rather amused.

"Honestly," Eliza said getting up. As she did, she realized how late in the morning it was. "My goodness, we need to hurry, our squad is waiting for us!"

"Sure," Geo said calming down a bit. "We got to go kid." He walked over to Eliza and took the bag of apples from her. He then gave both the bag of apples and the clothes of Boar meet to Ollie. "Here kid,"

Ollie looked up at Geo wide eyed. "You're giving these to me?"

"Yeah," Geo assured. "In an odd way, I'm here where I am today because of you, so here, this stuff should be enough food to last for a few days. I got no real use for them anyway."

Eliza was just as surprised as Ollie. She recalled earlier when he slaughtered all of those boars mercilessly and viciously, his horrible attitude towards his other Crusaders, and his rather nasty attitude towards her, and now here he was, giving a young street urchin food, stolen food, but none the less, it was a nice gesture on the outlaw's part.

"See you around kid," Geo called as he walked off.

"Wait," Ollie called back to Geo. "You never told me your name."

Geo paused and recalled the encounters he had with the kid. He did confirm that throughout his ordeals, he indeed never did tell the young gamin his name. "Geo, Geo Grace," he responded as he walked away again.

The boy watched Geo walk off with eyes sparkling with admiration. Eliza took not of this and wondered if he really should be admiring someone like Geo. With mixed feelings of the situation, she simply bowed to the boy and followed Geo down the street.

Before an awkward silence would start up again, she finally decided what she had to do. "Mr. Grace," Geo stopped again rolling his eyes wondering what she wanted this time. Eliza walked up to him and took out a handkerchief. "Here, let me wipe that blood off of you before it dries."

"What, you afraid I've got an unprofessional appearance?"

"No," Eliza assured proceeding to wipe the blood from his shoulder armor. "It's just that blood stains, and I don't think you would want that after just getting it."

"I really don't care, but thanks I guess," Geo said indifferently.

As Geo stood there, Eliza recalled everything that happened since meeting Geo, from the restaurant to that moment. She eventually came to the conclusion that Geo, though gruff and rude, was a good person. She just needed to show him down the right path, and this little bit of kindness was the first step. She felt confident in her abilities as a priestess that he can help him, and enough faith in Enoch that she would obtain his strength.

"I'll forgive you for your earlier theft," She explained. Geo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Though your actions were not very chivalrous, you did manage to do more good then harm today, so I will keep the fact that you stole those apples a secret." She looked up at him to meet his eyes. "But in return, I want you to try and act more like a crusader." Geo looked at her with a pondering expression. "If it proves too difficult for you, or you have any problems, just come to me and I'll do my best to assist you."

Geo looked at her for a while as he listened, then with a slick grin; he asked "Are you hitting on me?"

Eliza blushed furiously irritated by Geo's defiance. "Please take what I say seriously!" She insisted. After calming down, she sighed and started again. "Now Mr. Grace, I want you to promise you'll be more compliant. You will do your best will you not?"

Geo was tempted to crack another joke, but as just when he was about to, he caught her eyes. Her pair of limpid blue eyes gazed into his indigo eyes with such intensity and seriousness, that Geo's intent was frozen almost immediately.

Geo sighed realizing he was not going to win this fight. "Sure thing priestess,"

Eliza's face lit up, and she smiled thankfully. "Thank you Mr. Grace."

* * *

"You're late," reprimanded their squad leader. With the other members looking at the two new comers disappointed, Geo just stood there appearing to not care while Eliza sincerely felt ashamed.

"Our apologies Sir Avalon." Eliza apologized. "There was a situation on the other side of the city and we ended up lending our assistance."

"Yeah, when do I get paid for it?" Geo questioned.

Ignoring Geo, Avalon simply sighed and straightened up. "What ever the case, at least you're here now." He then motioned for the two to join the rest of the small squad of Crusaders. "It's time we head out."

Geo looked around again at the small group of Crusaders, including Megara, the Noble's daughter, the Knight Keen, both wearing armor of the crusade, though Megara wore what looked like lighter armor. On Megara's side was a long golden Rapier while Keen had a blood red Halberd strapped to his back. The priestess Angelas wore clothing similar to what Eliza is currently wearing, only gold and black instead of turquoise and white. He also noticed the squire Cody who had a sword on the side of his waist. Geo held back a snicker when he though of such a frail looking boy swinging a sword around. He did however notice the frontiersman Rex wore no armor as he chewed a bit of chewing tobacco near a large brown carriage which Geo assumed was their ride to the far off town.

"About time you arrived," Angelas stated impatiently. "Eliza, did you bring my parasol?"

"Oh my," Eliza exclaimed. "My apologies Lady Angelas, I forgot."

Shaking her head disappointed, she began to scold her lower ranked colleague. "Its reasons like this why you don't advance in rank. You'll never reach my level if you keep forgetting the minor things." Geo rolled his eyes annoyed by the priestess' voice. "Now you'll have to go retrieve."

"But it is in the dorms, a fifteen minute walk from here."

"Are you talking back to your superior?" Angelas reprimanded.

"My deepest apologies," Eliza apologized again.

"Just be sure it does not happen again." The blonde priestess once again stated. Geo was at his limit with this girl. "Remember Eliza, being a priestess is all about diligence."

"Really," Geo interjected in the conversation. "And here I thought being a priestess was about being selfless and helping others."

Angered, Angelas turned to Geo and defended her actions. "This is none of your concern outlaw."

"Of course I know," Geo assured. "But my mouth tends to forget and enter conversations without warning, especially conversations that piss me off."

Calmly, Angelas responded to this, not wanting to give the outlaw the satisfaction he had gotten to her. "She needs to learn to serve others faithfully and persistence. How best to learn then to serve a priestess of higher rank?"

"So then the one you had to serve was a bigger bitch then you?"

"What did you say?" demanded Angelas.

Geo with a wide grin played on her anger. "Something along the lines of you being a humungous female canine, though referring to your personality rather then the literal physical sense."

Angelas' face turned red with fury. "How dare you speak to me like that?"

"Don't like it, you can always go back to daddy, live in your mansion and leave the Crusades to the priestesses who're actually capable of being in it."

"Are you implying that I am ill fit to take part in the Crusades?"

Geo snickered and shrugged. "You're a little girl who can't even get a parasol by herself. How can you fight in a war? What are you going to do, hide behind your lackey, let her do all the fighting?" Angela's anger increased with every sentence. "I mean sure, I have no right to be in the crusades, but at least I know how to fight. I'm pretty sure all you'll do is force Miss Proctor here to act as a human shield while you can just sit on the side lines drinking tea like a real high class lady."

At a lost for words and face red with indignation, she turned to leave. "Eliza, forget the parasol! I don't need it!" While she still had some of her dignity left, she entered the carriage and slammed the door.

"So, when do we leave," Geo asked his fellow Crusaders who remained silent.

Avalon sighed disapprovingly. He was prepared to say something when Eliza spoke up.

"Mr. Grace," Eliza said stepping in front of Geo. Geo prepared himself for another scolding. "Thank you."

"Huh," Geo questioned surprised.

"I can't say approve of how you did it but, thank you for defending me."

Geo stared her down once wondering why she wasn't reacting her usual strict school teacher like manner. "Ah, sure whatever." He accepted the tanks without pushing his luck. He felt as though he heard enough of the priestess' complaints for one day anyway.

Avalon who had been watching the events take place decided at the moment to keep quiet. He figured Geo would have some shaping to do, but figured it was nothing he can't handle. "Gather around everyone," instructed Avalon. "It's time we say the pledge."

"Pledge," Geo questioned turning Eliza.

"An oath Crusaders take before we leave for our journey." Eliza explained. "Many die in the Crusades, so we say this pledge to bless us and protect us from danger."

"Many die huh," was all Geo said. He finished the sentence in his mind sarcastically. "That's a pretty affective prayer." Just to humor them, he decided to play along gathering around the rest of his teammates and participate.

Eliza turned to the carriage considering getting her superior to participate, but felt as though she needed to cool off a bit after Geo's insult. As the squad assembled, Avalon began the pledge.

"As we leave for battle, may Enoch guide us to victory. When we charge, we charge with courage. When we fight, we fight with honor. When we win, we win with Enoch, and if we die, may we find our way to the Utopia promised by Enoch. We are Crusaders, fighting for Enoch's world. May we take the path of righteousness and destroy the evil that opposes us." Geo resisted the urge to say something inappropriate as the squad leader finished his speech. "Let's go my comrades, for victory, for glory, for justice."

With that, Geo felt a chill down his spine. He never did enjoy hearing the word justice. There was something about that word that made cringe with disgust. This time around, for some reason when he heard Avalon say it, it made him all the more uneasy. Maybe it was just his imagination.

"Geo," Eliza said to the spaced out young man. He looked around and noticed that his fellow crusaders already near the carriage and packing up to leave. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Geo assured. He took one last look at the vast city of white and gold before he joined the squad. "Nothing at all."

To be continued…

* * *

**Skits**

Geo is normal while Eliza is _italicized_

**Rank of the Clergy **(Occurs befor meeting with the squad)

So what's with all of these ranking systems you Seraphs have? Aren't you guys suppose to be "equal in the eyes of Enoch" or whatever the hell you call it about?

_Rank is important for the clergy. The higher the rank you are, the closer you get to Enoch and his benevolent powers. _

Really, so what are the ranks?

_Well, first there are the Priests and Priestesses, which I am of course. We're at the lowest rank because we are still learning. Then there's the Bishops who teach us priests and runs the Church of Enoch, spreading the word of Enoch to the public with an Archbishop leading them. The heads of the clergy is the Priscus who act as the advisers of the Sanctus, and the Beatus who is the Sanctus' second in command. Obviously the clergy's leader is the Sanctus, the one who Enoch blessed the most to spread his word of an ideal world. _

Interesting…

_Wait, are you even listening?_

Got bored, so I stopped a while ago.

_Hey…!_

**Boom! **(Occurs before meeting with the squad)

Say Proctor, you seem pretty uncomfortable in those clothes.

_(Blush) I just feel a little uneasy. These clothes seem a little too revealing to me._

You call that revealing? That's modest in comparison to the clothes I've seen.

_What do you mean?_

Outfits I'd like to see you in. You got the figure.

_E-Excuse me!_

What? It's a compliment.

_Not the way you say it!_

It is. You got to admit you got a nice body. Nice curves, thin was, you're face is pretty good too, but I got to say, the biggest thing you got going for you are those boobs of yours. There are guys I know who would walk across the Ophan desert just to touch big puppies like those. Hell, I'm probably one of those guys. Admit it, you like the attention you're getting right Proctor… Proctor…

(_Blushing furiously) Big puppies… curve… t-t-touch… one of… one of…_

H-Hey, Proctor, I was just jokin' okay. What's with the face?

_You… you… PERVERT!_

What the Hell? (BOOM) AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**Boom part. 2** (Occurs before meeting with the squad)

_Mr. Grace, are you alright?_

Peachy. So what was that little fireworks show just now?

_My deepest apologies Mr. Grace. You see, Enoch's Benevolent Artes are powered emotions. My emotions tend to get over the edge in stressful situations and when that happens, prana builds up inside of me until it lets itself loose. _

So when a guy goes all pervy on you, you turn into a human time bomb.

_I wouldn't use those words but… yes._

So sexually harassing you is more dangerous then originally thought. Fine, I won't say anything about your boobs anymore.

_Thank you… I guess._

… or your ass, curves, face, or…

_(angry) …_

I'll shut up now.

_You do that Mr. Grace. _


	7. Chapter 04 Syria Town

**Chapter 04: Syria Town**

"Not bad," Geo said looking out at the scenery. All was green and bright as always in Seraph as opposed to the grey and bleak of his home country. Geo couldn't help but compare the two conditions of these two countries, one being his home, the other being his place of refuge. It seemed like this country gets more impressive the deeper he goes in. The small town of Syria was no exception to this.

As far as the eye could see, there were patches of fruits and vegetable gardens, fields of grains, corn, wheat, and spices. He had never seen so much food at once. The village was prospering; there was no doubt about that.

The farmlands aside, the town itself was like something out of one of those cliché good guys beats bad guy fairytales Geo heard as a kid. Children were out playing in the streets, adults were working, and everyone was happy, just like those goody-two-shoes stories. Geo's eyes caught the sight of a man in his late thirties carrying a bundle of wood in a wagon; the very top piece was shaped like a bazooka Geo seen back in Ophan. After the man walked by, he turned his attention back on the scenery.

"Amazing isn't it?" he heard the ever annoying priestess Eliza say behind him.

Geo turned to see the cyan haired priestess looking out at the horizon. "Almost half of Seraph's food is grown here. Acres of food are sold and transported not only here, but all over the world, even your country."

"Really," Geo asked. "You must mean shipped over to the people who an afford it."

Eliza remained silent for a few seconds as she looked back at their fellow crusade members. All of them were gathering around an elderly man. They had recently arrived in town by means of a carriage. The squad was currently talking to the town mayor, getting as much information as they can. Geo, uninterested in what the mayor had to say left the squad to look around, though he did keep in mind to stay where everyone could see him. Eliza believed it would be a good chance to try and break the ice with Geo. She remembered her conversation with Lady Marian involving the matter.

After revealing the events that transpired in the meeting room to her teacher, Lady Marian came up with what she thought was a sensible solution to the problem.

"The child is simply ignorant of his wrong doings. If you find common ground, you can get to his heart more easily. By getting to his heart, you can save his soul. Try getting to know him better. Ask him about his background, his country, his family, and use that to become his friend."

Eliza understood her mission. As a priestess, she must save the soul of this sinner, and make him see the light. She cleared her throat realizing this was the right time to start a conversation.

"What is your country like?" Eliza asked deciding to star with a question appropriate for the atmosphere.

Geo raised an eyebrow at the question. "You're asking me what my country's like?" he questioned.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Not really," Geo said with a shrug. "But if you really want to know, it's pretty much the opposite of this country, dark, depressing, and little to no plant life."

That was a pretty vague explanation, but Eliza was not about to let the conversation die. "What's the weather like?"

"Thunderstorms without rain, earthquakes, high pressure winds, and dust storms."

"More vague answers." She thought. She decided to look for more about the towns. Maybe he will be more descriptive with them. "And the towns?"

"Run down, crappy, rodent infested, and practically moldy."

This wasn't working. She can't keep the conversation going if he kept giving her such vague answers. She looked around to see if there was anything that could help her keep the conversation going.

It was then she noticed a crowd a small distance away. The crowd looked like they were gathering around in a circle and it sounded like music was playing. Something was going on over there, something that sounded fun and entertaining. Eliza turned to Geo and saw he was curious about what was going on over there as well. Without a word, both walked over to the crowd to see what all the ruckus was about.

Working their way through the crowd, they eventually came across an odd sight. There in the center of the circle was an odd man with a scrawny build and short in stature, about 5'4 and middle aged. He wore a green jacket, orange pants, and a green cap with brown hair coming out of the back and sides. In his right hand was a cane like walking stick which he leaned on as he stood in one spot. The man fixed his hat, and looked out at the audience with a grin appearing from behind his thick brown mustache.

"And now folks, for my next trick I will need some volunteers." The man said in a scratchy but cheerful voice. He began to point at some young children in the audience. The children he pointed to came to him one by one as he selected his volunteers. By the time he was done, he had eight little volunteers, three girls, and five boys. "Now, I will also need help from my little friend."

It was then Geo and Eliza noticed a small brown box next to the man's black dress shoes. The box's lid opened and a small creature crawled out. It was about a foot long, and crawling on around six pairs of thick legs. The crowd gasped as a long pink silkworm like creature crawled out of the box, up the man's leg, over his shoulder, and out on the man's outstretched hand. The kids shrunk back at the sight of the huge worm creature.

"Whoa, that's one big ass silkworm." Geo commented to Eliza.

"Do not be afraid children." The man assured. "Bune is an herbivore, and if you feed her, she will reward you with a trick." The man took out a bouquet of many colorful flowers out of nowhere, and offered it to one of the girls. One of the girls hesitantly took the bouquet. "Go ahead," he motioned. The girl, still a little shaken put the bouquet near the silkworm creature, though she herself stood as far away as she could. The worm approached the bouquet and began to munch on it. The kids began to advance towards the creature to watch it feast on the flowers, amazed at how it feasts on the heads of the plants.

"Now," the man called. "Bune, let loose the Silk Balloon." The wormlike creature then pointed its head upward and spat out a ball of silk in the air. The crowd looked up at the small glob of pure white silk fly over 15 feet in the air. Geo and Eliza's attention shifted from the silk when they noticed a glowing green light under the man's feet. Geo looked at he man's lips, reading them. "Dance oh Prana of Sylph… Air Current!"

The wind began to blow into a powerful gust. Geo held his ground as he looked around at the crowd who covered their faces and held their own against the gust. He immediately noticed what was truly going on. "Heh, I see."

After a few moments, the wind began to subside. Everyone settled down confused about what just happened. The confusion however went away as the crowd looked up again. Floating above them was a huge pure white sphere of silk. It was big, round, and reflective, just like a huge ball around six feet in diameter. It sunk down slowly to the ground over the kids who laughed and giggle amazed.

"Go ahead and play with it kids." The man instructed. "It will only last an hour, but you should have a good amount of fun until then."

The kids did not hesitate to play with the huge ball. Once it landed on the ground, they began to run over to it and began to play with it. It was really light due to the air, so the kids started off by tossing it in the air and all around.

The crowd cheered and clapped, amazed at the man's trick "Well folks, that's all I have for today. I hope you were all entertained." He took a bow, and the audience cheered one more time. When they were finished, they began to disburse. Some went on their way, some stopped by to talk to the performer and get a closer look at his silkworm creature, and some deposited money in his box as they did so.

Both Eliza and Geo looked at the old man silently recalling what the man just did. "That old man used an arte." Geo pointed out.

"He did," Eliza agreed. "He must be a mage."

"Is he that Clay guy we were supposed to meet up with?"

"No. From what I heard Clay is 25 years-old. This man is obviously too old to be Clay."

"So he's just a street performer." Geo said silently. "Say, can't Sorcerers use Artes too? How do you know he isn't one?"

"Because his glyph wasn't violet."

"His what?"

Eliza began an explanation. "A glyph is the physical appearance of prana in a form of light that spellcasters use to gather prana and prepare a spell. That circle of green light that appeared below the man's feet was a glyph. Each element has a specific color. The Sylph element is green, the Efreet element is red, the Undine element is blue, and the Gnome element is orange."

"You mean the four natural world Spirits." Geo questioned remembering his own teachings of the spirits. "That old man had a green Glyph, so he used Sylph's element."

"That's right." Eliza confirmed. "But there are also two more colors you should be aware of. One of them comes from the Queen of the Benevolents Rem. Those artes are mainly light based artes powered by Enoch. Those are the types I use. When I cast a healing or light spell, my glyphs will always be white. The other you should be aware of is violet glyphs. Sorcerers can use any element but the Element of the Benevolent Queen. Their artes are also fused with the power of the King of the Wickeds Shadow. No matter what arte they use whether it is a natural element arte or a pure wicked arte, their glyphs will always be violet."

"So that's how you can tell the difference." Geo said amazed. "But what if there's someone who can use both Benevolent and Wicked Artes?"

"According to legend, Des managed to steal some of Enoch's powers. He used it to combine humans and monsters to create the skinwalkers. They're Wickeds that hide among humans and can take the form of a beast to slay their foes. These Skinwalkers are said to have inhuman capabilities, but their spell artes are very weak compared to sorcerers and mages. The skinwalkers are the only ones capable of using both elements, but cannot use the four natural elements. They are the only ones capable of using Benevolent and Wicked Artes."

"Actually, there is another." Both Eliza and Geo jumped as they heard a voice interrupt their conversation. They turned to see the performer standing before them. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, and your topic sparked my interest."

"You interested in Sorcerers?" Geo asked the shorter man.

"I'm more interested in the Spell Artes they cast." The old man explained. "Most mages are interested in their type of spell casting." The man tipped his hat. "My name is Ivan Vix. I am, as you may have guessed, a mage."

"Good day to you sir," Eliza greeted. "I am Eliza Proctor, and this is my traveling companion Geo Grace. We are members of the Crusade."

"Ah yes," Ivan said with a nod. "I've heard there were some crusaders in town. You're apart of that squad?"

"Yes sir," Eliza said with a nod. She looked over at Geo and noticed that the silkworm was crawling from up from Geo's back on over his right shoulder. Geo seemed to not mind, as he just looked at the thing and turned his attention back to the old man."

"Bune seems to like you." Ivan stated. "She rarely warms up to people she just me."

"A very odd creature." Eliza stated amazed.

"Yep, but she attracts a lot of attention. Good for the act." He then put his walking stick in the ground and leaned on it. "So little lady, how'd you like the act?"

"It was interesting. Using artes to create a balloon of silk in midair. It takes a lot of skill and accuracy to do something like that."

"Well young lady." Ivan said with a smirk. "I don't mean to brag, but I am indeed one of the most skilled mages out there." He then turned his head as though he was in deep thought. "And to use these skills of mine to make the children smile makes me satisfied to be a mage."

Eliza smiled as he heard the man's words. "That is so…" she began.

"Oh come one." Geo interrupted. Both of them looked over at Geo who stood there smoking. "While everyone in the crowd had their eyes covered from the wind you were having a nice dose of eye candy."

"What," Eliza questioned. "What is eye candy?"

Ivan looked away sweating like crazy. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Really," Geo questioned. He then turned his gaze at a lovely young lady walking by carrying a pale of water. "She had a nice pair of white panties don't you agree?"

"Oh yes," Ivan said excitedly. "And did you notice the black stripes in the center of her…" he froze when he realized what he was saying. He turned to see Eliza staring at him puzzled.

"Why don't you give up a charade you pervy old man?" "The wind not only blew up that silk balloon, it also blew up the skirts of every young lady in the crowd."

"W-What!" Eliza exclaimed at a lost for words.

"Nice trick using the wind to make everyone cover their faces. No one had a clue what you were really doing."

"N-Now now," Ivan said flustered. "It's not like I was paying attention."

"Hey, I'm not judging. I was entertained myself."

"You were?"

"Oh yeah," Geo agreed. "I had a nice eye full. Did you get a load of the one with stripes?"

Ivan's eyes seemed to have sparkled for just a second. "Of course young man!" he exclaimed. "Never in all my life did I see a girl wear stripes so well. She certainly has the thighs to make stripes work!"

"Tell me about it. If only Miss Serious over here wore a skirt." Geo said referring to Eliza "I bet she's wearing a nice pair of stripes as we speak."

"No, a girl like her is probably wearing white."

"Really, I always pictured her with some kind of pattern. You know, polka dots, hearts, stuff like that."

"I doubt it." Iavn's face twisted with a great amount of perversion. "A girl with a face as adorable and innocent as hers, and yet has a wonderful body she's attempting to cover with long clothing. There are no other panties for her but white!"

"Yeah that would make sense." Geo nodded. "Is he right?" He asked Eliza. Unfortunately he never got an answer. Right next to him was Eliza, her entire face a deep red with steam appearing out of her head. Her body was trembling, and her right hand was reaching for the rod n her belt. "Uhh…" was all Geo could say. He had an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu. He couldn't help but feel he took the gag too far… again.

"Vile… dirty… unclean… such perversity… such lewdness… such… such… AHHHHHHHHH!" Eliza let out a massive yell as a white glyph appeared under her. Geo, Ivan, and Ivan's pet both stood there shocked as a white light enveloped them.

From a distance, Avalon stood straight up and looked around. He could have sworn he heard something go boom, he just didn't know where it came from. "Did you hear something?" he asked Lady Angelas.

"No," she responded puzzled.

Sir Avalon took one more lance around. "Where are Geo and Eliza?"

"They went to look around the town." Rex answered.

"Oh," Avalon seemed uneasy with that answer. "I hope they don't get in any trouble."

"Don't worry," Angelas assured. "Eliza, though air headed, is very much in control. With her around I doubt anything big will happen."

Meanwhile, smoke and soot covered the entire area Eliza blew up. Eliza just stood there covered in soot and a stunned look on her face as the explosion subsided. "Oh my, did I do it again?" She looked around seeing an entire ten foot diameter circle of suit covering the ground. Geo and Ivan were face down covered in ash and soot just a few feet away. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I-I just react that way when men talk like that… it just happens… I…"

"Basically we should be careful not to light your pervert fuse." Geo translated slowly lifting his upper body up. "Got it."

As Ivan began to get up, the ground next to him opened up to reveal his pet silkworm Bune who had burrowed underground avoiding the blast much to Ivan's frustration. "You couldn't dig a hole for me?" Ivan asked.

Geo sighed as he slowly got up brushing off some soot as he did. "Any ways old man, you said something earlier about something that can learn both Benevolent and Wicket Artes?"

"I did," Ivan said getting up shaking the soot off himself as well. He began his explanation by clearing his throat. "Legend has it before Des and Enoch became enemies, they ruled the world together and created the original creatures, one being humans created by Enoch, the other being monsters created by Des. This is common knowledge excepted by all. However, there is recent evidence that there was a third, forgotten race that went extinct a long time ago, a race called the Wicca."

"The Wicca," Geo repeated.

"You see," Ivan continued. "The Wicca were the original spellcasters. Both Enoch and Des used their power to create the Wicca. Wicca were extremely powerful capable of using both types of artes and performing great miracles. However, they weren't able to learn the four element artes since they died out before those artes were introduced to the world."

"You mean they disappeared before the Great Rise?" Eliza asked amazed. Ivan nodded conforming her statement. "The Teachings of Enoch never said anything about the Wicca."

"The teachings are old." Ivan admitted. "This information was newly discovered. The church probably wanted to keep it under wraps for some reason or another, who knows how the church thinks. So I'm pretty sure not many people know about it."

"So where did you hear this?" Geo asked.

"Believe it or not this street performer job is just a side job for money. Right now I'm traveling around to learn about the many spells of the world. My fascination with spell artes drove me to learn of the Wicca from a group of scholars from Elohim."

"You're pretty well informed." Geo stated with an impressed tone.

"As long as you have the right amount of money, you can get any information." Ivan stated, a grin appearing behind his thick mustache.

"What happened to the Wicca?" Eliza asked. "Why did they die?"

"Nothing is known at the moment. There are theories, but no evidence."

"But why do you care about some extinct spellcasters?" Geo asked.

"Because my boy…" Ivan paused as his expression became stern and serious. "By studying the past, we as human beings can learn from our ancestors." He looked down dropping his serious face into a frown. "And hopefully not make the same mistakes."

"Sir," Eliza began noticing the change in the man's expression and tone.

"Well…" Ivan blurted with a sudden smile. "I really should be going." He knelt down and picked up his large silkworm Bune. "I hope my story managed to entertain you."

"Leavin' already?" Geo asked.

"I must get ready for my next show." He tilted his cap once and bowed. "Thank you for having a conversation with this old man. Until the next time we meet." He turned around to pick up his box and place Bune back in it. He took a few steps away before stopping. "Be careful when walking around this town. Something's off about it." Both Geo and Eliza stood there watching the man walk away until he disappeared over a small hill.

"He seemed a little out there at the end." Geo pointed out.

"If you mean he was depressed then yes, I agree with you." Eliza said with a nod.

"Well," Geo said stretching his arms. "This was fun an all but we better get back to Avalon and the rest of the peanut gallery before they send a search party. Actually I'm surprised no one came when you blew up the area."

"That's true." Eliza agreed. "Come to think of it…" she looked around and noticed the people all were still walking along, working, and doing their business. "… No one has even come over to see what happened."

Geo looked around and could not help but get s strange feeling. "Yeah, the explosion wasn't big but it should've been enough to draw a crowd. We've been talkin' to that old man for a good three minutes and no one's even stopped by to see what was going on." He looked over at the scorch marks on the ground caused by Eliza. "Not only that, this big scorch mark and nobody's even glancing at…" he then noticed the man that had walked by him with the wagon earlier. A chill ran down his spine as he saw the wagon. "Okay, this isn't funny."

"What?" Eliza questioned.

"That guy was carrying that exact same bundle of wood in that wagon from when I saw him ten minutes ago. It hasn't even changed since I last saw him." He took note that all the wood in the wagon was the same kind in the same place with the bazooka shaped wood on the very top of the bundle.

"He could have simply stopped to talk to a friend." Eliza pointed out not finding anything suspicious about Geo's claim.

"And what about the path he's taking?" Geo asked. "Look at the ground he's walking on, it's worn like it was being walked on all day." Eliza looked at the man's feet and saw that geo was right. The man is traveling on a path of worn grass and dirt. It really was a worn path.

"Now that you mention it…" Eliza said as she looked around. She had indeed noticed that something was indeed off with the town. The children playing seemed too organized. It seemed like they were having a good time just running around and passing balls around, nothing was really going on in the games. She also noticed that all the women were just doing chores with one another and not conversing or gossiping like all small town girls do to pass the time. "I think Mr. Vix was right."

"Yeah," Geo agreed. "There's something very off about this town."

To be continued…

* * *

**Skits**

Geo is normal while Eliza is _italicized_

**Eliza's New Clothes **(Occurs before leaving the capital)

_What do you think?_

Of what?

_My clothes, what do you think of my clothes?_

Why are women so obsessed with their appearance?

_No I mean are they suitable for travel?_

Huh, yeah I guess so.

_These clothes were specially made by the church for travel. Do you see these markings on my jacket? These are symbols of the church. With these I can stand out as a representative of the church._

I know how you can stand out more. Maybe if you wore a mini skirt and spaghetti string tank top.

_That's sexual harassment!_

What? People will pay attention to you.

_For the wrong reasons!_

Picky picky picky.

**Cooking 101** (Occurs after Geo successfully cooks a meal)

_This meal…_

I know, good isn't it?

_I suppose but… it's kind of burnt. _

Burnt… well yeah it is, but I kind of like it when it's burnt a little.

_You like the taste of burnt food._

I eat a lot of roasted food and it tends to burn. I'm used to the taste.

_You have an odd taste._

I know you with your horseradish and tomatoes juice dip are not talking.

_What it's good? You should try some. _

Okay.

_Really?_

Hell no.

**Creepy** (Occurs after meeting Ivan)

_I wonder if Mr. Vix will be alright. _

If you're concerned about him getting involved with whatever's going on in this town I wouldn't worry about it. He's apparently aware what's going on.

_But still… it's really creepy._

I know.

_I really don't want to stay in this town. _

Don't worry, it will pass.

_How can you be sure? _

Well we saw it leave just a moment ago. It will leave the town eventually and you can be more relaxed.

_Wait, I was talking about the town. What are you talking about. _

Oh the town. I thought you were talking about the old geezer. That guy is pretty creepy.

_(glares)_

Oh come on, can't you take a joke?

_How can you be joking in this situation? _

Man you're too serious. Look, the old man was clear he knows something's up. He's a pervert but it doesn't seem like he's an idiot. If something's up, I'm sure he'll keep his guard up until he leaves the town. You got that?

_Y-Yes… _

Good, now let's meet up with the squad. (Leaves)

_(Was he trying to cheer me up?)_


	8. Chapter 05: Boss Battle Hellcat

I'm back. Here's the new chapter to my story. I hope you enjoy. This is a battle chapter so enjoy. I will update the next one soon.**

* * *

**

**Chapter 05: Boss Battle Hellcat**

"Here is what we currently know." Avalon started. He looked around at his reassembled group after gathering enough information about their situation. The group came together in the center of town, Geo and Eliza reunited just moments prior. With everyone standing in a circle paying attention to their leader, Avalon proceeded to review what is known.

"Our squad's mage, Clay Trident was in the area and spoke with the mayor. The mayor told him the four skinwalkers were seen near the entrance of the Forest of Dybbuk. Clay went on after them, but luckily it wasn't before sending us a message. He hasn't been seen since then."

"How long has it been since he left the town?" Sir Keen asked.

"He left yesterday morning. He hasn't been seen since."

"Why would he go in alone knowing he would be outnumbered?" Lady Megara asked in what Geo assumed was an annoyed tone. She still spoke in a very indifferent tone, but if Geo listened carefully, he could hear emotion in her voice.

"You know how Trident is." Keen explained obviously irked. "Just because he knows some advanced spells, he thinks he take on the world."

Geo listened carefully to this conversation. Evidently Geo was not the only one disliked in this squad. This Clay Trident began to spark his curiosity.

"So, looks like we'll be saving him from the big bad beasties right?" Rex asked amused by the events that transpired.

"Unfortunately," Avalon agreed. "We'll need to form a rescue party. The party's objective will be to rescue out missing comrade and if we see any skinwalkers, eliminate them."

"What do you mean form a rescue party?" Eliza asked. "Aren't we all going?"

"No," Avalon explained. "If the rumors of skinwalkers are true and we end up in trouble we need someone to stay behind and go get help. So I need two people to stay behind." He turned to Geo and Eliza. "I would like you two to stay in the village and await our return."

"Us," Geo repeated somewhat surprised.

"S-Sir Avalon," Keen exclaimed equally surprised. In a calmer tone he began to explain his objections. "Are you going to leave him unsupervised?"

"He isn't unsupervised." Avalon explained. "Eliza will be with him."

"I think what he means is he wants people who he thinks can kick my ass around me if I try anything funny." Geo translated. He looked over a Keen and grinned. "Otherwise I'll beat up someone weak like the daughter of a high ranked judge, runaway to hide in a country I know next to nothing about, and make an enemy out of an entire country." Everyone was silent as he gave his rather blunt but logical explanation. Geo just smiled and added more. "Don't insult my intelligence. I'm in a favorable situation. I'm not prepared to screw that up."

"No one is insulting you." Avalon assured Geo. He gave Keen a stern look then turned back to Geo. "We all trust you completely."

"I'm sure you do." Geo replied in an indifferent tone.

"Then it's settled." Avalon confirmed. "Sir Keen, Rex, Lady Megara, Lady Angelas, we're going to the Forest of Dybbuk." He then turned to his young squire. "Cody, it will be dangerous where we're going. You stay here with Geo and Eliza."

Cody turned to Geo who glared at the kid. Cody shrunk back a bit and looked at his master knight. "Yes sir." He agreed reluctantly.

"Okay squad, let's move out." Avalon instructed his four other members. Rex and Megara both followed Avalon silently. Sir Keen gave one more anger filled glare at Geo before following the rest of the group. He was obviously not going to let this go.

Lady Angelas before following the group followed, she stopped before Eliza. She herself wore a traveling outfit similar to Eliza's, but instead of turquoise, hers was a Saffron color. She also wore shorter sleeves and a cap with the Enoch symbol on the center of the hat's forehead.

"As long as you're here, preach the word of Enoch to these villagers." Angelas instructed like a noble woman was giving an order to a servant.

"Yes Lady Angelas." Eliza replied like said servant. After the short exchange, Angelas joined her comrades in leaving the village.

"Man, what a spoiled bitch." Geo commented.

"I told you to refrain from talking about Lady Angelas like that." Eliza scolded.

"How can I? She makes it too easy."

Eliza didn't even bother to respond. She just looked around at the villagers who were continuing their business in what appeared to be staged actions. "What do we do now?"

"What else do we do?" Geo questioned. "Mr. Knight gave us our orders. We stay in the village."

Eliza stood silently for a moment until she was prompt to ask the question that has been bugging her for a long time. "Was it all right of us to not tell…?"

"Hold it," Geo interrupted. He glared at Cody who shrunk away again. "Why don't you go play some place and let the grown ups talk. In fact… go!" The boy ran off by the sound of the word. "Let's not talk around Avalon's pet. Who knows what the brat's telling him when they're alone."

"Wasn't that a little harsh?" Eliza asked feeling uncomfortable with Geo scaring the young squire.

"Just making sure that brat doesn't get any ideas and listen in." He then took a few short glances around and walked closer to Eliza. "Keep quiet as you talk. There's a good chance there's someone watching us, whether the kid or someone else."

"Right," she agreed in a whisper. She then continued to voice her concern. "How come we didn't tell Sir Avalon about the town?"

"He's got enough to worry about." Geo replied. "Besides, it seems like this town's all for show. Nothing hostiles happened so far, so for now let's take a look around, particularly at the mayor's house."

"Why the mayor's house?" Eliza asked.

"The mayor's the leader of the town. It would make sense that if we're lookin' for information, that's the place to start."

"I see." Eliza agreed. "So what do we do?"

"Follow my lead." Geo proceeded to yawn and stretch like he was tired. "Let's go back to the inn Eliza." Geo called out. "They'll be gone a while and we got nothing to do until then."

"O-Okay," she agreed playing along. Both of them proceeded to leave the area and walked towards the town's inn. "What about Cody?" she whispered.

"We take him to the inn of course." Geo whispered. "Once he's there, we tell him to stay there as we sneak out the window, then get over to the Mayor's house to see what's there, agreed?"

Eliza looked around nervously before responding to Geo. "Agreed."

* * *

It took a good ten minutes to get from Point A to Point B, but it was done. After Geo managed to 'kindly' convince Cody to stay in the room, he and Eliza snuck out of the inn. Cody's role was to act as cover. If anyone for any reason wanted to talk to either Geo or Eliza, he would give them an excuse such as they are sleeping or they're in the restroom. Basically, he was supposed to keep their cover from being blown.

Geo and Eliza both looked around and saw the people were still moving around in a machine like repetitive movement. They successfully managed to duck and dive their way to the mayor's house thanks to Geo's instructing.

"You're pretty good at sneaking around." Geo complimented.

"But this feels so wrong." Eliza said unnerved by all of this.

"What did you want us to do, walk the path and shake everyone's hand? The objective is to let people think we're back at the inn."

"I know, but still."

Geo sighed annoyed by her easily guilt ridden nature. "You wouldn't last a day in Ophan." He motioned her to lay low in the bushes. "You keep a sharp lookout."

"A what?" Eliza asked unsure of what Geo meant.

"Keep watch and warn me if someone's coming this way." Geo translated irritated.

He snuck over to the window of the mayor's house and took out a small mirror. He positioned the mirror and peered though the reflection so that it looked into the house. Through the reflection, he saw a man sitting in a chair with his back facing Geo. After confirming the man was the only person in the room, he got up and peered in the room, keeping his head as low as he could.

The house was small, but had a certain elegant charm. A house like this would have been a good target for Geo in his burglary days. Putting that aside, he looked over at the man in the chair and saw it was the mayor. The old man sat in the chair motionless. Geo questioned the state of the man. The man was pretty awkwardly positioned. He looked like he was in a very uncomfortable position, so he couldn't have been asleep.

Geo raised his body a little to get a closer look in the house. It was then he noticed that in the back of the house was a door leading to another room. The door was just cracked and had light coming out from under the door and out of the sides. It was the middle of the day, so it couldn't have been a lamp.

"What do you see?" Eliza asked.

"A 'sleepy mayor' and a strange room." Geo responded. "Looks like something odd is going on in this town. I wonder what's in that ro…" he stopped when he saw the door to the room open.

Stepping out of the room was a man. This was a very tall man, well over six feet and seemed to have a well built fix. This however was difficult to tell since he wore a very long violet and black robe. The man wore a hood over his head and had an array of necklaces around his neck, and rings on his fingers. The age of the man could not be determined because most of his face was covered by the hood, but judging by what Geo can see, the man was probably young.

Following the man were two scrawny, but buff bald men wearing identical attire, white pants and black boots. They appeared to look exactly the same, "identical twins" Geo assumed. All around the shirtless bodies of the men were tattoo markings of some sort, forming a symmetric pattern around their pecks and all over their faces. Their eyes were that of wild animals desperate for a fight, and around each of their necks were chokers, each with the shape of a bird of some kind. Geo turned his attention to the hooded man and noticed one of his necklaces had the same symbol.

"Who are they?" Eliza asked looking into the room.

"Don't know," Geo replied. "But something tells me they aren't relatives droppin' by for a visit." Geo and Eliza both silently listened in as the hooded man began to spoke.

"Get ready to depart." The hooded man instructed in a raspy voice. "We leave immediately for the Forest of Dybbuk and intercept the crusade squad. Once the squad makes it to the pillar, kill them all."

"And what of the ones who remain in the village?" one of the men asked in a calm, serpent like voice.

"I will send the Hellcat to kill them when we leave town." The man explained. "They will not survive long enough to send for help."

"Will the Hellcat not slay the villagers?" the other asked in a voice equal in tone and quality to his twin.

"It will." The hooded man answered. "But it does not matter. These puppets have outlived their usefulness. All of the stones in the area have been mined. We no longer need this town."

"Crap," Geo thought as he ducked back in the bushes with Eliza. "Let's go." With a pull of Eliza's arm, they were off, running away from the mayor's house.

Geo looked around and saw a small abandoned shack a few yards away. He too Eliza by the arm and quickly, but discreetly lead her to the shack. After looking inside and confirming it was indeed abandoned, he opened the door and rushed in with Eliza, closing the door behind him.

"Those men." Eliza said after she got a moment to collect her thoughts. "They were using a spell to control the town's people."

"That hooded guy was a sorcerer, wasn't he?" Geo asked.

"He must have been." Eliza assured. "Only a Wicked Arte can do something like this. He was controlling everyone in this town as though they were puppets."

"We got to get out of this town." Geo said looking out of the window to make sure no one was looking in. "Come on; let's go before they send that Hellcat thing."

"But we can't just leave."

"Why not?"

"We were ordered to stay in town. Besides, you heard what that man said. The creature he is sending is going to kill everyone in town if we don't stop him. We need to protect the town's people."

"Are you nuts?" Geo asked irritated. "If we stay here, we could die."

"But we have to rescue them." Eliza insisted.

"Why cause it's the right thing to do?" Geo questioned mockingly.

"It's our duty to help those in need."

"Maybe in your world, but in my world, my life comes first."

Eliza stared at him surprised by his harsh words. "If we don't stand up against them, no one will. They're completely helpless."

"Please," Geo said rolling his eyes. "No one ever put their ass on the line for me. Why should I put mine on the line for people I don't even know?"

"But…" Eliza said trying to convince him. "We can't just leave these people… it's not honorable…"

"Honorable…" Geo exclaimed with a short laugh. "You mean dying before your time is honorable? If that's what you Seraph people call honor then you can keep your whole honor thing." Eliza just stood there listening to his words and staring at him with an unreadable expression.

"Crusaders… are not supposed to run away." She attempted again to convince him.

When Geo realized he will need more to convince her, he continued. "So I'm supposed to fight to the death is what you're saying? Well I got news for you sister, I didn't get to live this long by getting involved with something that does not involve me. I'm not throwing my life away over strangers."

Eliza just stared at him in disbelief. "But… why…"

"Did you not hear me?" Geo asked annoyed. "I don't want to die."

"Then… why did you agree to be apart of the Crusade?"

"Between going back to that hellhole country of mine in handcuffs or staying here and have a chance of freedom, what would you chose? This was just the lesser of two evils for me."

Eliza stood in place staring at him in disbelief. She lowered her gaze for a moment then continued. "But this cannot be all. Back at the restaurant, you defended me from those awful men. Surely you had to have good intentions. I know you have good in you if you did that."

Geo let out a small chuckle amazed by the priestess' naiveté. "I guess its true the bigger the chest the smaller the brain." He continued his explanation. "Those guys pissed me off. If it wasn't for them pushing you at my table I wouldn't have gotten involved. I would have just turned the other cheek like everyone else in that place. I never cared about defending you, I was just pissed at them and wanted to beat them up. Do you get it now? I could give a rat's ass about anyone but myself."

She still stared him down with an expressionless face. "I know what you're thinking, 'what a coward' right? Well the thing about cowards is that they tend to live longer then heroes. So if being a coward means survival, I can live with that."

When he was done, Eliza just stood there with a distant look in her eyes. The look was not of disgust or contempt like Geo thought she would give him, but an entirely new emotion. Geo did not understand the emotion her face was expressing right now. It was not sadness or anger, but a sort of empty feeling. Geo did not like the look at all. He did not understand her expression, but for some reason, he did not like it.

Eliza just turned her back towards Geo, still keeping her unreadable expression. "My father is really not as lenient as you may think." Geo stared at her wondering what she meant. "He is far more unyielding then what you saw earlier. In reality, he has zero tolerance for criminals. He was prepared to deport you back to your country regardless of helping me back at that restaurant, but… I got involved."

Geo still did not understand what she meant. What was so wrong about getting involved in a situation that involved her? "The church is not supposed to get involved in political affairs or legal issues. It is considered a taboo by the Church which must to remain neutral at any time." She paused before continuing. "I committed the taboo that could have gotten me excommunicated from the church… and I managed to convince father to pardon you." Geo looked at the back of her head not believing what he had heard. "To be blunt Mr. Grace… I put my ass on the line for you."

The priestess then jolted off, not looking back at the speechless Geo. Felt the need to try and stop her, but he couldn't move. He just stood there watching her run out of the shack. Never in all Geo's years as an outlaw did anyone actually risk something for him. Here was the good girl priestess whose has repeatedly said to Geo how much the church meant to her, and yet she risked excommunication… for him.

Geo took a small glance at the door then turned away out of frustration. "She wants to get herself killed then let her." He told himself. "My entire squad dies, I sneak away, I'm presumably among the casualties, and no one will come looking for me. My problems are solved." That was what Geo told himself. "So what if she gets herself killed." As he proceeded to walk out, he suddenly found himself slowing down. He did not know why but for some reason he just couldn't move his feet any farther.

Geo looked out of the window and saw Eliza standing in the middle of the town. Her rod was in her hand, and her other hand was curled in a fist and pressed against her chest. Most likely this was some kind of prayer.

"So she's really going to do it." Geo thought. She was really going to fight the monster coming for them. Geo just shook his head and turned away. "Idiot."

* * *

Eliza stood in the middle of the town finishing her prayer. When she was done, she looked around at the town's people, now lying on the ground unconscious. The most logical explanation for this was that the men left the town, and the people they were subconsciously controlling fell to the ground, still knocked out. They were just laying there, helpless, unprotected, easy targets for monsters.

Eliza stood straight up as she heard something in the distance. She looked out to see a large gust of dust coming straight for the town, and towards her. It was coming right at her at a breakneck pace, and seemed to be crying out at her.

"It's coming," she said to herself. A glyph appeared below her and she chanted an incantation. "Come before me o holy light." She cried out pointing her rod in the air.

_Sacred Flash…_

She created a blast of light, intercepting the big gust. All was quiet as she looked over at the no longer existing gust. Now nothing remained but a cloud of dust covering the area. She took in a deep sigh believing she succeeded in defeating the creature. It did not take long to show she was proven wrong.

Out of the cloud erupted a large, cat shaped figure. It was big, but slender, hulking, but agile, its red-orange fur shown in the daylight. It had large sharp fangs; with canines as large and possibly as sharp as dagger. Its claws were huge and sharp like razors burrowed in the ground as it charged at Eliza with a fire like mane flowing through the winds, and its red eyes set on her.

Eliza just froze. She had never seen a creature like this before in her life. In the forests surrounding Elohim where she had self defense classes, the monsters around there were miniscule and weak like poliwigles and only occasionally dangerous like wolves. This creature however was nothing like the weak monsters she had fought against during her training days. This was truly a beast from Hell, like its name suggested.

The huge cat growled as it charged at the young priestess. Eliza did not know what to do. The beast was too big, too strong, and too ferocious. Only one thing went through her mind as the large cat came close enough to pounce. "I'm going to die." The Hellcat was in position. With one great leap, the large carnivore pounced.

For that split second, Eliza could do nothing. She could not scream, run, or fight back. She could just stand there, and watch as the behemoth cat leaped to end her life. She truly believed she was going to die.

_Azure Edge…_

A blue sphere appeared from behind Eliza and zoomed past her, striking the menacing beast. The Hellcat was knocked back right into a wagon left by an unconscious town's person.

Eliza in disbelief, stood there, looking at the Hellcat roll around trying to get up. She did not understand what just happened. She understood the situation, but did not understand why the situation unfolded like this.

"If you're going to throw your life away recklessly, then at the very least put up a better fight then that." She heard a familiar voice say. Se turned to see Geo standing right beside her, looking her over; his battle axe slumped over his right shoulder. The outlaw just sighed annoyed as he turned his attention to the beast. "I guess I'm an idiot too."

The Hellcat then scrambled to its feet and glared at its attacker. It roared as it stood its ground, preparing to attack again.

"You can join in any time." Geo stated. "Just stay out of my way." He charged at the Hellcat who in return charged back.

The beast pounced, and Geo just slid under its leaping body and slashed at its stomach. The wound was not deadly, but it did slow the creature enough for Geo to launch another Azure Edge. That attack did more damage, but the Hellcat kept going.

Now it was the creature's turn. It let out a roar and slashed at Geo with lighting speed. Geo was unable to dodge the attack in time, and it ended up cutting his left arm. Geo ignored the jolt of pain running through his arm and continued the attack.

The Hellcat snapped at Geo with his huge teeth which Geo counter with a side step to the left and a swipe in the face with the blade of his axe. The Hellcat shrugged it off and stomped his front right paw down, kicking a cloud of dust down. Geo covered his face, and then dodged to the right when he saw the beast snap at him once again.

"Damn," Geo thought barley dodging the attack. "I cut it close that time."

Geo launched another assault with his axe, slashing left, right, the horizontally. These attacks intimidated the Hellcat enough to shrink back, but only for a moment. The beast then slashed out again. This time, Geo was ready. He blocked the attack, deflecting it past him to his right. Geo prepared another arte.

_Crimson Fury…_

Geo slashed at the beast twice with causing a visible red X to appear in the Hellcat's side. Geo jumped back and glared at the wild animal, seeing if it was still strong enough to fight back. Unfortunately, it was. It stood in place roaring at Geo.

"This isn't a joke." Geo thought. "If I don't hit a vital point soon this thing's gonna make me the appetizer in one big buffet. But it's too fast, and all that damn fur's gonna be difficult to cut through. All I can do for now is defend and hope it screws up before I do." After a huge roar, the Hellcat continued its rampage.

Eliza just watched the battle between man and beast in awe. She froze up at the sight of the Hellcat, but Geo, he is facing down the beast without an ounce of hesitation or fear. He was truly a fighter, unlike her.

"Mr. Grace is amazing." She said to herself. "But me…" she said with a combination of self doubt and self loathing. "How can I…" she stopped suddenly as something caught her attention.

Just a few yards away, Cody had wondered out of the Inn, most likely drawn to noise going on outside. "Cody!" Eliza called running towards the young boy.

The Hellcat leaped back from his fight with Geo and turned its head towards the young boy. Seeing this smaller creature as an easier meal, it turned and charged, leaving Geo swearing as he realized what it was going to do. Geo ran after it, but was unable to catch up.

Eliza turned to see the huge cat coming towards Cody who stood frozen by the sight of the lumbering beast. By the time the big cat was half way to the creature, it was intercepted by a determined priestess. She glared at the beast with her rod horizontally in front of her.

_Barrier…_

A small white dome of energy appear around her. The Hellcat, not knowing what the dome was just pounced and crashed on the dome. Eliza held the dome in place as the huge animal attempted to break through.

This distraction gave Geo the chance to strike back. "There's an opening." Geo thought. He leaped gathering some prana in his axe. Holding it up, he brought it own, right on the Hellcat's back.

_Amber Hacking…_

A yellow light erupted from the back of the Hellcat. The beast let out one final roar as a razor sharp blade dug right between the shoulder blades of the big cat, right into its spines. "Gotcha," Geo yelled with a sadistic grin twisting the axe, assuring that he severed the spine. It let out one small yelp as Geo did more damage to his spinal system. Weakened, the beast slumped over and fell on its side. After a few twitches, it lay motionless on the ground.

After Eliza's barrier disappeared, she walked over to Geo keeping her eyes on the unmoving Hellcat. "Is it dead?" she asked.

"No," Geo answered. "I just paralyzed it." Geo raised his axe again. "You two may want to close your eyes." He said loud enough so that Cody could here. Both obliged as Geo brought it back down right on the beast's head. Geo twisted the axe right out of the once intimidating creature's brain and smirked. "Now it's dead."

"Was that necessary?" Eliza asked a little sickened.

"It would have never moved again." Geo explained. "By killing it now I saved it hours of suffering."

"That was very noble." Eliza said impressed.

"What ever you say." Geo said cleaning the blood off his battle axe.

Eliza just smiled and walked over to Geo. Noticing the wounds he received from the battle; she put her hands to Geo's shoulder and muttered an incantation. "O healing power… First Aid." A bright light appeared before her hands and began to cover a surprised Geo's body. Geo's wound began to heal, bruises disappeared and cuts closed up.

When the spell was done, Geo looked over his healed body, looked at Eliza, and then turned away. "Thanks," Geo muttered.

"No, thank you," Eliza said with a smile.

"Hey now, don't get me wrong." Geo exclaimed flustered. "I didn't fight that thing for any lame good guy reason. I just owed you one was all." Eliza just stood there smiling at Geo. "What the hell? Stop that smiling, you're creepin' me out."

"Okay," she said with a chuckle. She looked over at the corpse of the Hellcat and frowned at the horrible waste of a life. It may have tried to kill her, but for some reason, she pitied the poor creature, dying like that, being used as a weapon by… "Oh no," Eliza called realizing what they forgot. "The squad's still in danger!"

Geo sighed visually annoyed. "Let me guess. You want us to go save them right?" Geo put his battle axe back into his holster. "Fine," he looked over at Cody. "Hey Kid," Cody jumped back and looked at Geo with the same scared look in his eyes. "If we ain't back by sundown, you'll know we're dead."

"Please don't speak like that." Eliza asked a little unnerved.

"Man you're too serious." Geo stretched once then looked out in the distance. "So Ms. Proctor…"

"Eliza…" She corrected. Geo raised an eyebrow at this. "We aren't strangers anymore. Eliza is just fine... Geo."

Geo just shrugged and looked over at the distance again. "Okay Eliza, it's time for the underdogs to play hero."

To be continued…

* * *

**Skits**

**Simpleton?** (Occurs after beating the Hellcat)

Geo: What the hell's with this girl? I totally ditched her and she ain't angry with me? I mean really, If someone ditched me in a big situation, I'd hunt them down to no ends, but here this girl is, just cool with the fact I did little to help her. Man, are all Seraph people like her or is she just a simpleton?

**Monsters and Survival** (Occurs after beating the Hellcat)

_Eliza: So that was a real monster._

Geo: Yeah. It was a real pain fighin' it too.

_Eliza: Do they have beasts like that in your country?_

Geo: The big ones usually hangout in No Man's Land.

_Eliza: What is No Man's Land?_

Geo: It's a big wasteland in the middle of the desert. That's where the sun's hottest, and all the big monsters roam. Civilizations are along the edges of Ophan. Big monsters aren't fool enough to wander too close to those cities. So they spend most their time in the middle of Ophan.

_Eliza: So the monsters are intelligent in your country._

Geo: Everything's got some level of intelligence. For monsters it's just survival instincts that tell them not to wander close to those areas.

_Eliza: But that hellcat… it was being controlled. _

Geo: Yeah, most monsters don't normally act that aggressively. Despite what people believe, monsters will only kill out of defense or to eat. It's pure survival.

_Eliza: I'm starting to feel bad about its death. _

**Odd Taste** (Eliza cooks spaghetti)

Geo: What the hell is this?

_Eliza: It's spaghetti. _

Geo: Okay, but what's it covered in?

_Eliza: A special sauce I made myself. I put mango juice to sweeten it. I added some sardines to give it that salty taste. _

Geo: Why the hell is it blue?

_Eliza: I added food coloring to give it an exotic look. _

Geo: Your taste is the only exotic thing present.

_Eliza: Don't be so picky. Enjoy your meal._

Geo: (sighs) I'm only eating this because I'm hungry. (takes a bite) Auggh… what the hell! You call this food its total crap!

_Eliza: (happily eating) … yum… (munch, munch) _

Geo: Are you listening to me! I ain't eating this… (stomach growls) someone up there really hates me.


	9. Chapter 06: Boss Battle x3Eggbears

After a year of hiatus, I'm back. Here comes the next chapter to my story. I will update the other ones soon, but for now, I will start the end of my hiatus off with this, just as proof I am not dead.

WARNING… This chapter includes graphic violence. Near the end there will also be an extremely violent thing occurring along with some morbid jokes by Geo. All I will say is Geo will do something brutal to another human being. This warning is for those of you who are squeamish. Remember, you've been warned.

With that out of the way, here's the next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

A scream erupted from the forest. Birds hiding within the branches of tall trees flew off in flocks, not knowing what made the noise, not bothering to find out.

Within the forest brush, a priestess with Cyan hair looked over at the small plant headed monster with a mixture of shock and fear. It was small, sphere like, and had a pair of leaves coming out of its head like a rabbit's ears. The creature just stood in place not moving. It did however twitch once as Geo lifted it up with its axe, the blade lodged deep within the monster's head,

"Honestly, who gets frightened by a Filifolia?" Geo asked discarding the corpse annoyed. "The thing's barley a monster."

"It just startled me." Eliza assured getting back up. She sighed once as she dusted herself off.

"Is that so," Geo asked shaking his head. "I'm amazed you can stare down a hellcat, but that thing's enough to make you wet yourself."

"I did no such thing!"

"Will you stop taking all my words literally?" Geo looked around at the forest not wanting to continue the annoying conversation. "Anyway, where is everyone?"

"Maybe they're deeper in." Eliza suggested.

"Looks like it," Geo said looking down at the ground. "Their footprints go down this path. Judging by the land they didn't run into trouble yet. Haven't seen anything that shows a battle."

"Then we may not be too late. Let us hurry."

"Yeah sure," Geo said getting up.

They continued walking through the woods, only stopping when they heard a noise or to fight monsters that attacked them. Most of the monsters in this forest were pretty weak, such as Filifolia, Boars, Axe Beaks, and Poliwigles. It was nothing the two of them alone couldn't handle, though a Holy Bottle would have been nice to have around.

Geo suddenly stopped putting his arm out across the front of Eliza, stopping her as well "Be on your guard."

"Why?" Eliza asked. She looked out and noticed Geo stopped at the opening of a big clearing. It was a huge open space, no trees or bushes within a circle like shape. It spread out to be a good twenty to thirty meters in diameter. All that lay in it were rocks, grass, and leaves all over the clearing floor.

"A clearing is a good place to set an ambush." Geo explained knowing from experience.  
"Those goons could have set up a trap or are keeping watch in case there was anyone following.

"I see." She looked around, not dropping her guard for a moment.

"Move slowly, but don't let anyone watching, if there is anyone, know that we're on to them. Try to look as casual as you can."

Slowly and quietly, they preceded though the clearing, ready for anything that might come. Eliza thought she heard something at one point, but brushed it off as her imagination. Geo with the blade of his axe slumped over his right shoulder by the head looked as casual as you can be. This façade could fool anyone into thinking he's lowered his guard, when in reality, he was on high alert. He had too much experience on both sides of an ambush to know how to act.

Geo took note of his surroundings. All around was trees, a bunch of patches of bushes were to his right a few meters away, a bier patch was in the far left, and a huge boulder was a distance away. The briar patch was immediately eliminated as a hiding spot for obvious reason. The boulder was too tall to hide on top, and it was all clear around it, so that wouldn't be too good of a hiding place. It seemed that the most logical point of attack would be from the trees or the bushes. He focused his attention there.

It was then, Geo heard it. The bushes rustled and Geo froze. "Now Eliza!" Eliza took out her rod and chanted the incantation.

"Barrier!" she called and a white dome appeared around both her and Geo. This was just in time, because out of the bushes came a hulking creature, with thick brown fur and huge beastly claws. It slammed down once at the dome, but it was too tough to break. The barrier disappeared and Geo lunged at the creature's legs, hacking at its legs. The creature came toppling down to its side in pain.

The beast let out a roar as it lashed at Geo who leaped back to Eliza. "What the hell is this thing?"

"An Eggbear," Eliza confirmed. "It's a very powerful monster, very few are brave enough to fight it alone."

"Doesn't seem so tough now," Geo said preparing to attack it again. It was then Geo froze as he heard more sounds emitting from the bushes. Out of them charged one more bear monsters. "You gotta be…"

"Geo!" Eliza called. Geo turned around to see what caused she wanted in this situation. He saw her looking up at the boulder just above. Another Eggbear looked down on them growling. It leaped right at them.

Geo reacted quickly, sweeping Eliza up and leaping out of the way. The Eggbear crashed right in the spot they were in landing on its feet, causing a minor tremor in the earth. Geo had to dodge the charging Eggbear as well, side stepping its massive jaws, and leaping over near the briar patch with Eliza in his arms. Geo had his back to the briar patch looking at the Eggbears. All of them, including the injured one stood on all four legs advancing towards Geo. Geo could run nowhere. With the three Eggbears in front and the briar patch behind, he was stuck.

"Damn," He said putting a frightened Eliza down, back on her feet. "Looks like we'll have to fight our way out."

"But there are three of them." Eliza protested.

"And we got no place to run." Geo confirmed. "Do these things have a weakness?"

"I heard Eggbears are weak against Fire Based Artes. But I only know Light Based Artes."

"And all my artes are Elementless Strike Arte." Geo said cursing under his breath. "Just stay behind me. Heal me if things get bad. I'll try and make sure none of them get to you." He got his axe ready. He looked around to see which one he should attack first. That question was answered when one of them lunged at him standing on its hind legs. Geo braced himself for the worst.

Fire Ball…

A barrage of small orange spears erupted from behind Geo. The Eggbear that lunged at him was struck right in the face. The monster stood there growling in pain as its face was seared by the orbs.

Geo did not know what happened, but he did not stop to find out. He took advantage of the situation and leaped at the beast. Grasping his axe with both hands, he hacked at the monster, slicing its neck right open. The blow would have been strong enough to decapitate a human, but this animal with its thick fur and muscular neck suffered a huge gash through the neck.

Geo landed on his feet and watched the beast violently cough up blood. The wound was fatal. The other two Eggbears roared as they saw their comrade go down.

Geo took the time to turn to see where the orbs came from. There, sitting on a long white rope, hanging from the trees like a kind of swing sat the old man from town.

"Young people these day." Ivan Vix said grinning with amusement. "They always rush into things. Never taking the time to stop and think things through. He kicked his legs swinging back and forward, then leaping off over the briar patch, and next to Eliza.

"I was wondering when you'd show up again." Geo said amused.

"Well I'm so glad that I was missed." Ivan said with a bow. "Now, what do you say we finish these big boys off?"

"You're speakin' my language." Geo said preparing his axe for another attack.

"Great," Ivan said approvingly. "Just keep him off my tail long enough for me to chant the incantation."

"You got it." Geo agreed looking at the Eggbears. The other two went by the corpse of their fallen comrade growling at Geo with bloody rage. "Eliza, aim for the one I wounded earlier. Old man, you take the other one." Both agreed.

Ivan got his walking stick and put it out in front of him. His walking stick, a black cane like stick with writing of some kind going down the sides began to glow. The letters began to glow red as he chanted his Incantation.

Eliza's rod, a silver cylinder with a red gem and cross like shape on the end, also began to glow at the gem part. She gathered light prana at the gem and was ready to let loose the power it held.

As they did, Geo fought back. He lunged at the one he wounded earlier, slicing its face, and dodging a bone crushing blow. When he saw other one went past him and was charging at Eliza and Ivan, he acted quickly. "Azure Edge!" he called launching a blue orb at the beast's back. That got its attention. It shrugged off the blow and retreated back towards Geo.

Geo sidestepped the one he wounded forcing it to turn around. He slashed at the wound he caused earlier in its leg, causing the beast to collapse. It now only had three legs to fight back on. Geo, seeing the other one charging at him leaped back, dodging another blow.

"Fire Ball!" the old man called. Another barrage of orange orbs slammed the Eggbear, knocking it to its side.

Geo quickly went to attack the severely wounded one. He ran behind the beast and leaped at its back. "Amber Hacking!" he called. Geo slammed at the Eggbear's back with an explosion of yellow light. Unlike the Hellcat however, it did not go down as soon as it hit. This was mainly because the Eggbear had more muscle, so the spine was harder to get to. Geo leaped back when the three legged bear bucked him off.

"O light of the holy rain!" Eliza called finishing the incantation. It was then little glitter like sparks appeared around the Eggbear. It growled as the Eggbear saw the sparks glitter and Shine before it. They then gathered above the Eggbear and formed a small clear white sphere above its body.

Blessed Drop…

The sphere came down on the Eggbear, exploding in a bright light. This finished it off. The Eggbear dizzily dropped to the ground as its life slowly drained away from its body.

"That's two down," Geo commented. He looked over to see the final one getting back up. "One more to go." He charged at it, ready to finish it. He slashed at its legs like he did with the other one, which it responded with a quick slam down.

Ivan quickly ran around to get a better view of his target. He chanted another incantation. This time, his walking stick was glowing orange.

Eliza took the time to run over and launch a barrage of small orbs at the Eggbear's head distracting it long enough for Geo to slash at its stomach.

"Take this," Ivan called. "Stone Blast!" The old man fired a barrage of boulder from the earth and struck it in its head. The beast wobbled a bit taken aback by the blow. Geo relentlessly struck the Eggbear behind the knee, bringing it down.

"Come before me o holy light," Eliza chanted. "Sacred Flash," a burst of light caused the beast to topple over to its left side.

"Die," Geo called. A shine of light appearing on his axe.

Quick Silver…

In a super fast motion, Geo slashed at the beast horizontally. A silver light cut right though the massive creature. That was all it took to finally end the battle. The Eggbear attempted to lift its head once, before collapsing, never to get up again.

"And that is that," Geo said satisfied.

Ivan chuckled amused. "That was fun. Let's do that again soon."

"Sure old man, just not too soon." Geo said whipping the blood of the blade of his axe with the grassy floor of the forest. "So what are you doing here anyway? I thought you had a show you had to do."

"I did," he assured. "But I don't think the audience enjoyed my show all that much."

"That's hard to o when you're being controlled."

"Mr. Vix," Eliza interrupted. "You knew the people were being controlled. Why did you not inform us at the village?"

"Someone had to be watching." Ivan explained. "I figured I could at least hint to you what might be going on. Looks like you picked up in my hint rather well."

"You ain't some ordinary street performer are you?" Geo asked getting up. "You seemed pretty experience on the battle field, and you caught on to the situation rather quickly." Geo put his axe back in his holster. "You're past I'm not interested in, but why you're here is a better question at the moment."

Ivan shifted his face to a serious expression. "Indeed, some explanations are required." He cleared his throat preparing to speak. "Truth is I travel around the world studying the different types of Spell Artes in our world. Street performing is just to make money. In reality, I'm a researcher of Spell Artes."

"So you came here following rumors." Geo guessed.

"Yes," Ivan replied. "My initial thought was there may be Wicked Arte users around. I wanted to study them from a distance."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Eliza asked concerned for the man's wellbeing.

"If it's for the pursuit of knowledge, I am willing to take that risk my lady." Ivan said with a bow.

Ivan then turned his attention to the trees. "It looks like Bune found what we've been looking for."

"Bune," Eliza questioned. She and Geo looked over at the direction Ivan was facing and saw the large silkworm from before crawling in the trees above.

"Buu-Buu," the small creature called.

"Let us continue the conversation later." Ivan suggested. "Right now, you're friends are in danger. It seems as though they were caught not to long ago."

"They were!" Eliza asked shocked.

"Don't worry, they're still alive." Ivan assured. He put his arm out and made a kissing sound. Geo and Eliza jumped in surprise as they saw Bune spit out a long sticky white silky substance at a tree and used it to swing out, landing on Ivan's arm. "Bune took the liberty of finding a short cut. Let us hurry."

* * *

Within the middle of a huge clearing, Avalon could not help but feel disgusted with himself. It was all so obvious, yet he did not see it until too late. Now here he was with his four other Squad members, inside a big circular steel cage, weaponless, and helpless. Sir Avalon and Sir Keen stood in the front glaring at the man while behind, Lady Angelas knelt down praying, and Rex and Lady Megara stood their ground calmly.

Outside the cage, a hooded man in black sat before them on a tree stump mockingly. Next to him were two bags. One of them held a small bundle of weapons belonging to the Crusaders. "Oh how the mighty have fallen." The man said amused. "Sir Avalon Burgundy, the man favored by the king among his knights, the most decorated knight in the royal court. Now here he is, caged like an animal."

"Pathetic, isn't it my master?" a voice asked. Standing behind the man was a young man dressed in orange robes. His long blond hair dropped down to the sides of his face. He adjusted a pair of sunglasses on his face grinning menacingly.

"How could you?" Avalon asked. "Do you know what you are doing?"

"Of course I do," the blond man said chuckling. "I'm siding myself with the… most interesting side. The whole crusade thing was fun and all, but I got to be honest with you, there really wasn't anything I could learn from the Crusade. I mastered every spell the Benevolent side had to offer. Now I want to learn from the Wicked side."

"You traitor…" Keen called. "You a once proud Mage of the royal court would side with this slime?"

"Hey now Keeny, that's not very nice. This man was very good to me. He taught me things that no one has ever taught me in the kingdom. Those fools don't know what they've got going for them. If they knew how to truly use the Natural Artes, they could conquer the entire world. What I want is power, and this man, my master can teach it to me."

"Indeed my apprentice," the man said amused. "Out of all my apprentices, you are certainly my most ambitious."

"You will not get away with this!" Keen angrily growled. "The world will hunt you down like the dog you are. The name Clay Trident will go down in history as an infamous traitor! You and your master will…"

"Keeny…" the ex-crusader interrupted with a grin. He walked over just a few feet away from the cage and chuckled. "I'm afraid you won't live long enough to tell the world about me."

"What are your intentions?" Lady Megara demanded, showing signs of anger for the first time. "What were you doing to this town?"

The hooded man in black reached for a bag next to the stump he sat on. He reached in and pulled out a palm sized amber crystal. The crystal shown in the daylight sun as the hooded man lifted it in the air for the crusaders to see.

"Do you know what this is?" The man asked. When the crusaders did not respond, he answered. "This is a substance called Azoth."

"Azoth," Avalon exclaimed surprised. The other crusaders appeared equally surprised by this claim.

"You of course know what Azoth is used for right?" he asked again not expecting an answer.

"You don't mean…" Avalon said in disbelief.

"That's right," the man said pleased that they caught on quickly. "Azoth, the material that can absorb and store prana until it is needed. A precious stone that sells for a pretty penny on the market. After all, there would be no limit to what the military can do with it."

"Can you believe the town was sitting on a mine of Azoth all these years and didn't even know it?" Clay continued. "Well, you know what they say, what they don't know won't hurt them, so master here used some wicked artes and proceeded to control them like puppets. By day they are normal village folk, but by night, they're mining the land for us. No labor unions and no reason to pay them."

"And why were we summoned?" Avalon questioned. "Why did you get us crusaders involved in your scam?"

"Two of you have value." The hooded man explained. "Lady Megara, third cousin of the king, and Sir Avalon, the Sr. Knight favored by the King. Both of you will be valuable tools to manipulate the Kingdom."

"His Majesty will never submit to you!" Sir Avalon called angrily.

"Don't be so sure." The hooded man pointed out. "King Alexander is still very young. He will not simply ignore this matter. I will hold you two hostages as the only surviving members. Meanwhile, Sir Keen, the frontier's man, and Lady Angelas were killed in action along with those poor fools you left behind."

"You monster!" Avalon growled disgusted by the man's disregard for human life.

"But don't worry, I will tell them how you rescued me." Clay assured. He then proceeded to put on a little act for them. "You're majesty, it was horrible! They used me as bait to lure my comrades to their deaths! They then let me loose only to deliver the message to you! It was horrible! I wish they didn't come for me! This is all my fault! If there s anything I can do to make up for this…!" He then proceeded to chuckled finishing his act.

"A double agent and a bargaining chip." The master explained. "Two birds, one stone." He then got up from the stump and formed a fist with his right hand. He proceeded to walk past Clay, directly in front of the cage. "Now, it's time we move on." He pointed the fist at the group revealing a golden ring with black markings on his ring finger. Within his curled up fist, there was a dark light emitting from his palm. "This arte will paralyze you all. Once you're all still, there won't be any resistance from any of you."

Avalon stood in front of the group in a futile attempt to protect everyone. Though he realized it was hopeless, he still had the need to protect his comrades as best he could. For now, all he could do was try to protect everyone and pray for a miracle.

"Now die!" the hooded man commanded.

"You first…" a voice yelled.

The hooded man turned to the direction of the voice. Surprised, he tried his best to move his arm away, but it was too late. Through the skin, past the muscle, and crushing through the bones, down came the axe blade, and of came the man's hand.

The man bellowed in pain as he grabbed at what was left of his hand. He held his right wrist tightly, attempting to prevent too much blood from coming out. He groaned heavily, falling to his knees. The pain was too great. He could do little but attempt to stop the bleeding.

Clay both shocked and anger by the revelation turned to his master's attacker. There, standing before him was the outlaw from Ophan, his axe's blade covered in the blood of the hooded man. "And I just cleaned this axe." Geo complained annoyed. He then turned his attention to Clay. "Hey nice shades. You got to tell me the name of the bargain basket you got them from."

"You bastard!" Clay called angrily. A red glyph appeared below and he chanted an incantation. "Die!" A huge molten orb erupted from his hands.

Geo just smirked and leaped to the side, dodging the attack easily. "Just as he planned." He turned to see the orb strike the side of the cage, belting the bars, destroying a wall. Going pass the cage, the orb crashed into a tree, igniting it in a burst of flames.

"No!" Clay called realizing his mistake. Too late, the five crusaders quickly escaped from the cage.

"Geo what are you doing here?" Avalon asked. "I told you to stay in the village."

"Your welcome," was all Geo.

Clay angrily glared at the one who had the nerve to attack his master. He prepared another glyph ready to attack again. "This time I'll…"

Aqua Edge…

A barrage of blades made of water came right at him. He put up a green dome like barrier just in time to deflect the attack. "Who…" there, standing a few yards away was the mage Ivan Vix, his walking stick pointing at the younger mage.

"You're ambitious, but foolish," Ivan said disappointed.

"You decrepit old man. I'll show you what happens when you cross me!"

"Show us all," Geo demanded. It was then Clay saw them. The entire crusade stood before him, weapons drawn and ready for battle.

"How…" was all Clay could say. He turned to see the bag containing the crusader's weapons were not near the stump his master left them. Turning back, he noticed one more person in the group. It was a priestess with long cyan hair, catching her breath after running so quickly.

"Confused?" Geo asked. "The trick was simple. While you were distracted with me, your back was turned towards Eliza. She ran to the bag behind you, and grabbed it. Once the old man got your attention, she ran towards us with your back towards her. It's a simple thief's trick that involves three people. Two stands in a 90 degree angle of the target and distract him; the third person takes the item, and runs off making sure they stay out of the target's sight. The target doesn't even notice the third person."

Clay cursed under his breath. It was a trick and he fell for it, and now, the entire crusade stood before him, weapons ready. Avalon unsheathed his broadsword, and Megara unsheathed a golden rapier. Sir Keen took out a large halberd and Rex unwrapped two long bullwhips which he held in each hand. Lady Angelas held in her hands a pendant with the symbol of Enoch in her hands.

Clay took a step back realizing his situation. He was outnumbered eight to two, his master was gravely wounded, and the only help they had was dealing with the Azoth stones.

"Master," Clay began.

"I know," he assured. "We will retreat for now." Before doing so however, he growled at Geo. "You with the axe. What is your name?"

"Geo Grace," geo responded not afraid.

"Geo Grace," the man said venomously. "Learn my name well... I am the Philosopher." He grunted in pain once before continuing. "You stole my hand. I will never forget this day. I promise you, for this you will suffer. I promise you, I will KILL YOU!"

Geo just smirked at the man's threat. "Good luck with that."

Clay knelt down to his master, the Philosopher, and chanted an incantation. "Stop him!" Avalon commanded. Sir Keen and Rex charged at the two. But it was too late. In a flash of violet light, the two disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A teleportation," Ivan confirmed to himself in amazement.

"They got away," Avalon confirmed angrily. "Spread out, search for them!" They did as instructed, Megara and Avalon going in one group, Rex and Keen going in another.

"So they did," Geo said stretching nonchalantly. He then turned to Angelas who sighed relieved. "So, how has your day been?"

"You," Lady Angelas scolded angrily. "Please take the situation more seriously."

Eliza walked over to her senior concerned. "Are you alright Lady Angelas?"

"I am," she assured turning away. "I don't need you to be concerned about me."

"What was that you say?" Geo asked. "Thank you Geo and Eliza for saving my ass?"

"Silence you…" Angelas just turned away angrily with a red face. Whether it was genuine anger or embarrassment was hard to tell. She just marched away from the group, obviously irked.

Geo satisfied looked down at the dismembered hand of the sorcerers. He knelt down and noticed something on the finger of the hand. He picked up the hand and saw a golden ring with black markings engraved within the sides.

"Oh," he said taking the ring off the finger. He looked closer at the ring. "Nice, I could get a pretty penny for this."

"Geo," Eliza said looking over at him. "What are you going?"

"Looking for a helping hand," Geo responded snickering at the joke. He then tossed the hand aside and held the ring up to the light.

"Are you sure you should be touching something that belongs to a sorcerer…" Ivan asked noticing the ring. "Especially such a dangerous one?"

"He left it behind," Geo pointed out. "If it was any value to him he would have taken it with him. The fact that he left his hand behind tells you something."

"Please Geo," Eliza scolded. "Refrain from telling such morbid jokes." She got a good look at the ring and shivered. "But Mr. Vix has a point. I think you should leave that accursed thing."

"Leave such a nice trophy? No way." Geo put the ring in his pants pocket. "Sorry guys, but the Sorcerer's Ring is mine."

To be continued…

* * *

Skits #5

Here comes more skits. These skits now include Ivan. Finally, another character joins the party. I have also updated the Attack List and the first page. Well, enjoy the skits. Geo, _Eliza, _Ivan, _Bune_.

**Mage and the Elements (Occurs after Ivan joins the party)**

_Mr. Vix. __I was wondering. What are those markings on your walking stick?_

Well my dear, these are hieroglyphs. What they do is collect prana and amplify the power of my spell artes. It's a catalyst to my spells.

_Would your spells still work without it?_

I can still use spell artes, but they are significantly weaker without a catalyst to focus the prana, similar to how your wand works when chanelling prana is necessary. 

I see. It's true that I need my wand in order to better control my Light Artes. So your walking stick is similar to my wand.

Yep. This was the best catalyst since I depend on it and must carry it with me at all times. It's mainly do to my bad leg.

_Is there something wrong with your leg?_

Afraid so. I have a tear in the muscle of my right leg that makes it weak if I try standing still. I can run no problem, but when standing still, I need this walking stick to keep my balance.

_How did it happen?_

If it's all the same to you… I'd rather not go too deep into details_._

_Mr. Vix..._

* * *

**Buuuuu (Occurs after Ivan joins the party)**

_Buu… Buu…_

Say old man. I was wondering, what is this thing?

Don't rightly know. Bune is a new species, completely unknown to zoologists. Some believe she's a new species of Crawler, some think she's a mutation. Very little is known about her.

_How did you find her?_

I found her not too long ago during one of my expeditions. I was resting after hiking through the mountains in south Seraph when I noticed Bune here feasting in a tree. It was then I decided to make her my familiar, and gave her the came Bune because of the sound she always make.

You mean the sound of a pouting little girl?

_Geo, that's rude._

Yeah. And besides, what little girl goes Buu when she gets all pouty?

_Buuuuu…_

* * *

**Cooking Mage (Occurs after Ivan cooks)**

_This is delicious!_

Yeah, it's really good!

I'm glad you one ones like it.

Like it, it's the first decent meal I ate in a long time.

_Hey, what about the food I cook?_

Again, it's the first decent meal I ate in a long time.

_What do you have against my way of cooking?_

Where do you want me to start?

Geo my boy, you really should be more grateful. Most guys would kill to eat the cooking from a young lady as lovely as this. I'll tell you what Eliza my dear; I'll personally taste your food when you cook, and tell you how it is. 

_Why thank you Mr. Vix. At least someone appreciates my talents._

Okay then, next time why don't you cook your specially made beef stew?

Ah, that sounds delicious.

Yeah, and be sure to add all your ingredients. You know, the meat, the onions, the potatoes…

Sounds great.

...the carrots, the pineapples, the raisins…

Yum… wait what?

...the yoghurt, the cottage cheese, the soy sauce…

H-He's joking right?

_Oh my, I think we're out of soy sauce._

Huh!

_I think I'll have to stop by the market later._

What did I just agree to?

Hehehe, enjoy old man.

* * *

Yep, it's the Sorcerer's Ring. I couldn't think of a better way to end a chapter then to include that. Anyways, I'll update really soon.


	10. Chapter 07: Aftermath to Syria Town

**Chapter 7**

"Will these people ever leave me alone?" thought Geo. All he wanted was to be left alone in his room at the inn. He just wanted to rest so that he can leave this overly happy town. Unfortunately, every time he was close to sleeping, there came another knock on the door. Every five minutes Geo had to get up, and greet some villager, receive thanks for saving their life, and accept a gift of some kind. Right now Geo had ten fruit baskets, seven figurines, a vast amount of flower bouquets, and a sore arm from all of the handshakes he had to do. There were evidently more people in the town then he originally thought.

"This is what I get for saving a few lives." He complained. "Not one gald in the lot, ungrateful bastards." He rolled over to his side hoping he would finally get some sleep. That was when someone knocked on the door again. "Dammit."

He jumped to his feet and marched to the door annoyed. Evidently that 'Do not disturb' sign he put in the doorway had no affect on these village folk. He opened the door ready to yell at whoever was there. There, standing before him was the annoying priestess in all of her annoying glory.

"What?" Geo demanded visually pissed.

"I apologize for disturbing you, but there are children who would like to meet you." Eliza responded.

"Do I look like a baby sitter to you?"

"Please don't be like that. They just want to see you and hear some stories. It will be just for a moment."

Geo sighed realizing she will not give him a choice. "Fine, just five minutes and I'm going back to bed." Annoyed, he left the room, locking the door behind him.

Eliza said the walk would be about two minutes. Geo would have believed her, unfortunately people kept stopping them to shake his hand and thank him for everything he did. He may as well have been back in his room, but he knew if he didn't do as Eliza said, he would not hear the end of it. So here he was, merrily on his way to meet some kids he knew nothing about. "Someone shoot me."

Halfway there however, they came in contact with some familiar faces. There on the side of the road stood the annoyingly noble knight Avalon along with the tan knight Sir Keen and the street performer Ivan Vix. They appeared to have been having a conversation of some sort until they noticed Geo and Eliza walking down the street towards them.

"Geo," Avalon called. "I thought you were resting."

"Barley," Geo corrected.

"We're on our way to meet with the children from earlier."

"I see," Avalon said with a nod.

"So old man," Geo said referring to Ivan. "What were you guys talking about earlier?"

"Traveling arrangements." Ivan stated.

"Traveling arrangements?" Eliza questioned.

"It seems as though this squad is lacking in a mage, so I offered my services." Ivan explained.

"You're joining the squad?" Geo asked surprised.

"Not officially no," Ivan stated. "The path your squad is taking involves going to Ba'al, and I got some business there. Until then, it looks like we'll be seeing more of each other."

"I'm glad to hear that." Eliza said with a smile. "Your services will be greatly valued."

"I bet you just want to just keep ogling at the girls in our squad." Geo said amused.

"Of course not!" Ivan said looking away.

"Look me in the eye when you say that." Geo said amused.

"Geo," Eliza scolded. "Please…"

"Stop taking me so seriously." Geo interrupted. "It's just my way of saying welcome to the team."

"It is," Eliza asked confused. "But it doesn't seem like…"

"Don't bother asking." Geo said waving her off. "I don't feel like explaining it."

Ivan shook his head with a smile. "You young ones these days."

"By the way," Geo continued. "Any word on the Sorcerer and the Meister?"

"No," Avalon continued. "It seemed as though they managed to escape. What makes it worse is that we have no idea where they might have taken all of that Azoth. We need to find it before it is distributed, or there could be trouble."

"Of course," Ivan continued. "Stored prana can be used in many ways. If use properly it can be a deadly weapon or power up artes. I pray it does not come down to that."

"The problem is where it might be." Sir Keen admitted. "The country is big, finding the shipment could prove difficult."

"Try Hadad," Geo suggested. Everyone looked at Geo when he gave the sudden response. "Hadad is a port does trade directly with Ophan. From what I understand it ain't to far from this town, and it is a safe bet. Rumor has it Ophan crime lords have control of the Ophan ports. They tend to use that port of other countries for their own use. If you want to smuggle something, your best option is to check out a port that has dealings with Ophan."

"How do you know this?" Avalon questioned.

"Ophan's code," Geo explained. "You know nothing, you say nothing."

"Excuse me?" Eliza questioned.

"It's a secret." Geo responded knowing very well not to reveal too much.

"Then how do you expect us to believe you?" Keen asked with a hostile tone.

"I don't expect you to believe me." Geo explained. "Everything I said is hear-say. I don't need to give you proof." He let at sink into everyone's heads for a while. Keen looked like he was about to say something, but Avalon cut him off.

"Very well then," Avalon said with a nod. "We have our next destination."

Keen turned to Avalon in disbelief. "You'll believe his words?"

"We have no choice." Avalon stated. "We don't have any better leads and Geo has made a logical argument. We'll rest for today and leave for Hadad tomorrow."

Geo then stretched realizing he had spent more time talking with them then he attended. "Well, if that's all," Geo said preparing to walk away.

"Oh, Geo," Avalon said stopping him. "I want to thank you."

"You're not going to give a mushy little speech are you?" Geo asked annoyed.

"It's just that," Avalon continued. "If it wasn't for you, our squad would have been killed off. You saved us all." He extended his arm and offered a handshake to Geo. "This squad owes you their lives."

Geo hesitated for a moment, before reluctantly taking the knight's hand and shaking. "Whatever you say." Geo then turned to Sir Keen who just glared, obviously angered. Geo smirked at him just to get at him, knowing full well the knight will have to live with the thought that he was saved by a criminal from Ophan. The smirked worked; Keen grunted once and turned his back frustrated.

"So," Geo said letting go of Avalon's hand. "Let's get going Eliza."

"Of course," Eliza agreed.

"You mind if I come with you?" Ivan asked.

"Knock yourself out." Geo replied.

"Geo!" Eliza scolded. "That's very rude!"

Geo sighed again realizing she misunderstood him again. "That meant I don't mind."

"Oh," Eliza replied, though still rather confused. Ignoring Eliza's confusion, he turned around and proceeded to walk off with Eliza and Ivan behind.

"So Geo," Ivan began started to make conversation. "I heard about your story from Avalon."

"Really," Geo asked not surprised. "Is there a problem with that?"

"You're past is your business. I have no right to judge you."

"Well aren't you the indifferent one. My other teammates aren't as tolerant as you."

"We all have our faults my boy." Ivan replied with a smirk. "But we all have our good points as well."

"Even you?" Geo questioned.

"Of course my boy." Ivan looked around until he saw a young lady with long blonde hair a few yards away hanging clothes out to dry on a line. "For example, I can tell you the sizes of that young lady just by sight."

"That is a good point," Geo agreed.

"You two…" Eliza scolded irritated.

"Whoa, we better stop before the human bomb blows us up again." Geo joked with an exaggerated fear expression.

"You're very rude!" Eliza yelled. She was about to say more, but stopped when she realized they were at their destination. "Oh, we're here."

"Where's here?" Geo asked. It was then he saw a small building with three children in the front of the house. Two were young boys with black hair, one slightly taller then the other. The smallest of the three was a young girl with a stuffed animal, looked kind of like a bear with a creepy smile.

"Hello children." Eliza greeted as her group approached.

"Miss Proctor," the little girls called. The three of them ran over to her happily.

"Look who I brought with me." Eliza said motioning at an uncomfortable Geo.

"Wow, is that him?" the older boy asked excitedly.

"It's a real hero." The smaller boy called.

"H-Hero…" Geo repeated unnerved.

The three surrounded Geo and began to call out excitedly to him and ask him all sorts of questions such as "is that the axe you fought against the eggbears" and "how did you beat the hellcat" and "did you and Miss Proctor ever kiss" the last question making Eliza blush and Geo pass the point of irritation. He decided to answer the questions as quickly as possible.

"Yes it is, I bashed the Hellcat's brains in, and we did a lot more then kiss if you know what I mean."

"That last answer is not true!" Eliza called out angrily at the obvious lie.

"I'm just messin' with you," Geo said amused. He then took out his battle axe and gave it to the older one. "Here you want it?"

"Wow, I can really have it?"

"Sure," Geo replied with a shrug. "The blade's gotten pretty dull and rusty, and I can always buy another one. Now be sure to run around with it and be sure to swing it around randomly any chance you get, preferably when there are lots of people around."

"Stop giving him such dangerous advice!" Eliza demanded. "Children please ignore him; he can be so immature at times."

"Whatever," was all Geo could say. "You want me to give good advice, here it is." Geo cleared his voice before speaking. "If you talk about perverted things around Eliza, she'll blow you up."

"Th-That isn't true." Eliza called when she saw the kids staring at her.

"So you didn't cause that huge scorch circle in the middle of town because two guys were acting like perverts?"

"That was because of you and Mr. Vix!" Eliza exclaimed.

"See, she admits it." Geo pointed out with a smirk on his face.

"I-I," Eliza stuttered trying to explain. The explanation however would be lost, since Geo was telling the truth and she was too baffled to know what to say. The kids back off a bit and huddled close to each other staring at Eliza.

"Miss Proctor is scarier then I thought." The small boy said to the other two children.

"Yeah, she seems nice but she's really so violent." The older one continued.

"She's a pervert bomb." The little girl said amazed.

"Pervert bomb!" Eliza repeated shocked. Geo held back as best as he could to laugh out loud, succeeding to some degree, though a few snickers managed to escape. "My reputation as a priestess is over." Eliza pointed out dropping her head depressed.

"You're a credit to big brothers everywhere Geo my boy." Ivan sarcastically commented. He decided it best to get their attention away from Geo and Eliza. "So kids, who wants to see a show?" He put down the box he was carrying and opened it, letting Bune point her head out. The kids gathered around the silkworm amazed.

"Well, looks like my work is done here." Geo said satisfied. "I'll stop by the shop and buy a new axe." He then proceeded to walk off leaving Ivan to entertain the kids.

"Wait a minute," Eliza demanded irritated marching off following him.

Ivan just sighed as he watched the two either walk or march off. "You ones these day." He said shaking his head. He then turned his attention to the children. "So, who wants to see Bune perform a trick?"

As Geo walked off, he attempted to quicken his pace so he could lose Eliza. This was not happening. Every time he quickened his pace, she was right there behind him quickening her own.

"Why do you find it so necessary to humiliate me?" Eliza asked with ire.

"I'm a sadisit." Geo responded with a matter of fact. She glared at him once again. "Man, you really can't take a joke."

"There's a difference between joking around and bullying!"

"Sounds like an interesting explanation. Tell me it later." Geo responded as they made it to the shop. Eliza angrily stayed silent realizing her argument would fall on deaf ears.

In the shop, Geo went in, looked around, and saw a few items he really liked. He considered swiping them, but with Eliza glaring at him he thought better. In the end, he purchased a few gels, some food ingredients, and a new battle axe, far better than his last. Thanks to his status as a 'hero' he was given a discount.

Leaving the store satisfied, he suddenly remembered the ring he took from the Sorcerer. He got the ring from his pocket and examined it. "I wonder how much the shopkeeper would have given me for this."

"I still think you shouldn't be carrying that thing around with you." Eliza scolded. "There's no telling what Wicked Artes that thing is filled with."

"Would you have preferred I gave it to those kids?"

"That reminds me." Eliza said remembering something about the earlier encounter.

"Oh crap now what?" Geo thought.

"Why would you give those children such a dangerous weapon as a battle axe?" Eliza questioned angrily.

"Stop complaining." Geo said irritated. "I'm sure their parents will just throw it away when the kids aren't looking." Eliza stopped and looked at Geo puzzled. Geo sensing this turned around and looked at her confused. "What?" he asked wondering if he said something weird.

"I didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Those children are orphans."

"Orphans." Geo repeated amazed. "They're orphans yet they live in that nice house?"

"The town's people help them from time to time." Eliza explained. "However, the older two had to work hard on their family's farm. They are very responsible for their age."

"What do the town's people get for helping them?"

Eliza turned to Geo puzzled. "What do you mean?" Eliza asked. "Shouldn't you help others when they are in trouble?"

"Not in Ophan." Geo explained. "Orphans are the same as a wild animal as long as we're concerned. Once you're orphaned, you're on your own. You can either go to an orphanage and be worked like a dog, or you can try and survive on your own. The latter was my choice."

"You're an orphan?" Eliza questioned.

"I guess you can say that." Geo said not looking at her in the eye. "My mother wasn't a saint, but at least she bothered to raise me."

"What do you mean?"

Geo hesitated to consider whether or not he should tell the story. He decided it would do no harm and began to explain. "From what I heard, my mother was a mistress to a foreign noble visiting Ophan on business, and by the time that noble returned home she was pregnant with me."

"Your father… is a nobleman?" Eliza asked in disbelief.

"Believe it or not, it's most likely the case." Geo confirmed. "He promised my mother a good life, but it turns out that guy was already married and had like three other mistresses besides her. My mother was naïve enough to believe the adulterous bastard."

"But a noble wouldn't…" Eliza began in protest.

"Wake up priestess," Geo exclaimed. "No one's perfect." Geo turned away from her. "I don't really know who my father is, but frankly I don't care." Geo continued his story. "My mother raised me until I was eight. That was when she died from lead poisoning, compliments of a contaminated water supply."

"I-I'm sorry." Eliza said feeling as though she's pressuring Geo to tell her all of this.

"What are you apologizing for?" Geo asked.

"It must be a tough subject for you." Eliza explained.

"Not really," Geo assured. "I did my mourning, and I'm over it now." He then finished his story. "Once my mother died I was on my own. No one would help me; no one would show me pity. From that point on I did what I could to survive. I stole, I killed, I joined lots of gang, and I betrayed so many people I once called allied. It was all so that I could survive another day." Geo paused. "Well, I guess one guy did, but hell, I learned later I was better off alone."

Eliza stood there silently watching Geo's expressionless face. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stared blankly into space.

"These kids are lucky they were born in this cozy rich country. Ophan's Orphanages are cramped; dirty buildings where you're chances of being adopted are as good as winning the lottery. The only reason they even exist is because the bastards who own them want government funding for their own needs. Workhouses are no better. In those places, you're below the roaches that infest the buildings. Hell, that dungeon back in Elohim was better then those places." Geo at this point, Geo remained silent.

Eliza decided to break the silence with a story of her own. "Judge Proctor is not my real father." She began. This caused Geo to turn to her surprised. "I never knew my biological parents or anything about where I came from." She began to tell a story she seemed very uncomfortable with. "When I was a baby, I was left at the Church's doorstep. Since that day, the church raised me until I was adopted by father and his wife when I was six." She shifted in place. "My... currently late foster mother wanted to raise a daughter, but after giving birth to her second son, she was unable to have anymore children, so they adopted me." There was a brief pause before continuing. "I always wondered why my parents abandoned me, but I never dwelled on it. I would keep myself distracted with church duties and prayer to ever think too deeply about it… but still…"

"Will you knock it off?" Geo interrupted irritated. This caused Eliza to turn to Geo who did not look at her directly in the eye. "It doesn't matter who you're parents are. Look at me, I only knew one of my parents and I'm still alive. So you don't know who your parents are, so they abandoned you. Does all that matter now? You got people who care you exist. You got that Judge, the nun, and all the people who give a damn you help them, so quit going all emo on me." When he was done, he turned to see Eliza staring at him with a blank expression on her face. "Now what?"

"You… were trying to cheer me up." Eliza pointed out.

"I just got annoyed with all your brooding." Geo said coming up with the most logical excuse. Eliza just smiled at him which caused him to shiver with annoyance. "What now?"

"It doesn't matter if you yourself are not aware of it," Eliza began. "But deep down, I always knew you were a good person."

Geo just stood there baffled. "Good person…" He repeated. He did not know how to respond to this. He just stood there for a few moments as Eliza stared at him wondering what his reaction might be. "I've been called many things, bastard, shameless, ruffian, savage, but a good person… that's a new one."

"Well," Eliza said smiling once again. "Maybe they shouldn't judge you so quickly."

"Whatever you say priestess." Geo said turning his back on her. "So, can I leave now?"

Eliza smiled and nodded. "Yes you may." She conformed.

"Thank you," Geo said walking off. "Now leave me alone."

As Eliza watched Geo march off, she wondered what kind of relationship she had with Geo. One moment they seem alright, the next they're arguing, the next they seem to be having a close conversation with one another. It confused Eliza greatly.

She wanted to have a deeper thought, but then realized that at the end, they really did have a close conversation. They found out a little more about each other and that they both had more similarities then she originally thought. She wondered if this is what Sister Marian was talking about when she said "find common ground."

To be continued…

* * *

Well, enjoy the skits. Geo, _Eliza, _Ivan.

**The Secret of Spell Artes**

Looks like the town is going back to normal. Everyone appear to be enjoying my acts and I'm actually being paid well. 

Plus you get to see up more skirts

My boy, I'm shocked that you would make such an assumption. 

Eliza's not here.

She isn't?

Nope, so don't hold back.

Oh good. We wouldn't want a repeat of last time would we?

Yeah. Anyway, blowing up skirts aside, spell artes are pretty handy. How did you learn them?

Spell artes are pretty difficult to learn. You'd have to have a very high IQ and a strong connection to prana to use these artes. You need to know how to use these artes and how to properly distribute and manipulate the prana. It was difficult learning to become an age, but now that I look back, I think it was worth it.

I'm sure it is. After all, there are a lot of women wearing skirts in the world.

That I don't just use spells to look up skirts! 

Really?

Of course! Sometimes when I 'practice' water spells, I tend to 'accidentally' make their shirts wet… hehehehehe.

And people call me scum.

* * *

**A new title (Occurs after meeting the children)**

_(depressed) Pervert Bomb she called me._

What's up with you?

_Because of you those children believe I'm some kind of monster that blows people up. _

Not just people, Perverts.

_That's no better! People will probably think I attract perverts all the time!_

Come now Pervert Bomb, don't be so depressed.

_Stop calling me that!_

Come now, it's got its own dignity.

_There is no dignity in something like that!_

Sure there is. Just embrace the title with open arms. Now you are a Pervert Bomb.

(Eliza receives the title Pervert Bomb)

_Nooo, I don't want a title like this!_

* * *

**Hehehehehe… (After Geo buys a better Battle Axe then his pervious)**

Hehehehehe…

_W-What are you doing? _

The axe is way better then my old axe. The staff is finely in place, the weight is just right, and the blade, hehehehehe I can do a lot of damage with this.

_You're beginning to scare me._

Oh if only I had this axe when fighting the Hellcat. The battle could have gone a lot smoother. Instead of defending against the claws, I would have hacked them off, just like I did to that Philosopher guy, hehehehehe-hahahahaha!

_Do you get this way every time you buy a new weapon? _

No, just for a better weapon. Aren't you ever happy when you get a better weapon?

_I'm never that happy. _

You just don't get it. A man's weapon is his soul in battle in battle. I have to trust my weapon to hold up on the battlefield; otherwise I would have died a long time ago.

_Geo…_

It maybe an inanimate object to you, but to me, it's a trusted ally. Since this a new weapon, I need to kind of bond with it and create a kind of momentum. After all, we are partners from this point on.

_That's so touching. _

Or at least till I get something better, then I can just sell this for a few extra gald.

_That is not the least bit touching!_

Now my little friend, let's go find something to hack up, hahahahaha…! (Leaves)

_(Prays) Oh Enoch, am I being tested?_


End file.
